


The Kingdom of Awesomeness

by Wednesday Thunder (wednesdaythunder)



Category: Glee
Genre: Hetalia, I would say crossover but it really isn't, M/M, freaking COSPLAY, omg did I write this?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2015-02-05
Packaged: 2017-12-26 03:38:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 39,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/961141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wednesdaythunder/pseuds/Wednesday%20Thunder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years after he last saw Kurt, Sebastian did NOT expect to bump into the man again, /especially/ on some crazy convention for Japan-nerds that he didn't want to be at anyway.</p><p>Or: In which Sebastian is a great friend, Kurt is a cosplayer, Jeff loves manga and anime and Nick just goes along with it all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One: Bad Friends

**Author's Note:**

> So this was actually the first Glee fanfiction I wrote - but seeing that I completed it while being in the middle of writing LIAR for the Kurtbastian Bingbang round one 2012/2013, my beta (dearest Olinka) and I agreed that it wasn't our first priority to get this into shape.
> 
> I came up with this crazy idea of a plot in the summer of 2012 and just started writing it, thinking that I should try to write something small. BUAHAHAHAHA - the finished (but not completely beta read) work is almost 40k. And I am crazy.
> 
> But to make the timeline clear: This is three years ahead of season three; Sebastian is in his second year of collage while Kurt is a senior/just graduated.

Sebastian was a fantastic friend. In fact, he was probably the most wonderful friend one could ever wish for.  Most people might have argued with him on that, saying that he wasn’t a good friend _at all_ because of his charm, superior mind, self-preservation, and his general snarkiness and rude manner. But he really was the most brilliant friend to ever walk this earth. Because if he _wasn’t_ , why else would he ever spend three days in _Baltimore_ , Md., on some weird, idiotic convention, as a birthday present to a friend, huh?

Jeff had been going on and on about his Japanese cartoons for years now, ever since he found some old videos of _Pokémon_ from his childhood when he was packing up for college. And being Jeff, he watched them, of course, when he should actually be packing, and he had a nostalgic moment (though Sebastian himself was more fascinated by the fact that Jeff still had a VCR to watch the damned videos on). Being a reasonable person, Sebastian had thought that Jeff would get down from his nostalgia and either throw the videos away, or put them in a box and let them collect dust in his parents’ basement for an indefinite future until he found a place of his own after graduation. When his parents would demand that he got his stuff because _they_ didn’t want to have it any longer, he would find the old videos again and re-watch them while he should actually be unpacking, and then he would be all nostalgic again. But Sebastian had been sadly mistaken. _Sadly_. Because instead of just doing the normal thing like any other guy would, Jeff had become obsessed. It was like those videos had brought a peculiar creature to life that lived on “anime,” as it stubbornly called these weird shows. And it just kept growing bigger and bigger, getting more and more hungry for androgynous people with large eyes, colourful hair and twisted stories with plots Sebastian couldn’t even begin to understand.

Unfortunately for Bas, those old episodes of _Pokémon_ kindled Jeff’s interest in anime in general, not just _Pokémon_ , so much that he would endlessly pester both Sebastian and his boyfriend Nick about it.

Nick was far more okay with Jeff’s new interest, and he actually _tried_ to understand what the hell Jeff was on and on about, but Sebastian was confident that Nick didn’t understand half of what Jeff was saying. If anyone would ask for Sebastian’s opinion, he would gladly tell them that Nick was a lovesick fool, and that was why he put up with Jeff's ranting all the time. But no one did ask for Sebastian’s input, and since he found that the piece of information was rather important, he usually ended up declaring it rather loudly to both Nick and anyone else in a ten foot radius. Nick didn’t appreciate it _at all_ , but what was Sebastian to do? Glance over the whole thing and say _nothing_ about the fact that he was worried over his friend’s mental health? No. He was such a loyal friend that he always commented on Jeff’s unhealthy obsession and Nick’s will to just go with it, whenever he got the chance, just as a little reminder. And as you can imagine, he was given the opportunity rather often.

“Just wait till you fall in love,” Nick would normally say whenever Sebastian went perhaps a little too far.

“Yes, I hope it’ll be some crazy guy who has an obsession with fake nails or something,” Jeff continued. “And then you’ll know _all_ about manicures and walk around with pink nails and stuff.”

Even though Sebastian was quite mean from time to time (hell, even he could admit that he could be childish), Nick and Jeff were very dear to him, and he wouldn’t replace them for anyone. They were close friends, and neither of the three did take each other’s crap despite insulting one another on a daily basis. But the most important thing was perhaps that Nick and Jeff accepted Sebastian, with all his flaws and also his finest points –– that being his charisma, intelligence, loyalty and his rather attractive face –– and they were there for him and made him laugh. So that’s why Nick and Sebastian decided that for Jeff’s 20th birthday they would give him something that he really wanted. And that’s how they ended up giving him a trip to Maryland, for a three day convention in Baltimore at the end of the summer, with hotel and tickets and everything. And of course they couldn’t send Jeff over there all by himself, God knows what he would get up to, so they both were to go with him.

And that’s the story why Sebastian was there at all. He’s just a great friend, don’t you agree?

The place where the convention was held was full of weird-looking people. Sebastian saw people dressed in the most outrageous outfits, with wigs in colours that made his eyes hurt, carrying oversized weapons and stuffed animals and stuff. Some of them were half naked, girls mostly, and oh, there are only so many boobs a gay guy wants to see, ever.

And what was with all the _noise_ they were making? People were more or less screaming at each other, and their constant squealing, along with chattering and laughing, wasn’t making Sebastian any more positive about the whole thing at all. And they weren’t just speaking normal English either, but some strange language that everyone on the convention seemed to communicate in, even Jeff who was saying something that _sounded_ like English, but was still completely injudicious. One girl whom Sebastian happened to overhear was trying to speak English with a _French_ accent of all things, and when he turned around to glare at the woman for vandalising such as beautiful language, he only managed to see a glimpse of her, with her blond shoulder-long hair and her blue outfit with red pants, and then she was gone. Good thing for her, he thought, because he would probably have thrown a fit.

Jeff, on other hand, looked like he had died and went to heaven, and he was basically running around, speaking that strange language while Sebastian and Nick had a really hard time keeping up with him. It was just a matter of time really before they got separated.

Sebastian sighed and looked around one more time, trying to spot Jeff’s blond hair or Nick’s raven cowlicks, but no such luck. He was just about to pull up his phone and call Nick, asking where the fuck they’ve gone, when someone bumped into him from behind, and he lost his balance for a second.

“Excuse me,” said the one who had walked right into him, and Sebastian turned around to give the offender a piece of his mind.

All snark comments and insults were quickly swept away, as he stood face to face with a person that he _did not_ expect to see. But the thing was that he didn’t look at all like he used to. Sebastian stared at [him](http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs49/f/2009/231/2/c/Chibi_Prussia___Hetalia_by_Yami_Chan4.jpg) , very confused about the fact that his eyes were _red_ and not the usual outburst of green, blue and brown like Bas remembered that they were. And his hair –– it was _grey_ , and he had this cross, a cross Sebastian could only associate with Nazi Germany and military uniforms, around his neck, and he wore a dark blue military uniform. And for some reason unknown, there was a yellow bird on top of his head.

“Kurt?” Sebastian asked because it _was_ Kurt Hummel underneath all that crap, wasn’t it? What the hell was he doing here, dressed like that?

Kurt frowned at him, like he was trying to understand what Sebastian was saying.

“Vhat are you talking about? I am ze awesome Prussia, you can recognize me because of my pure awesomeness,” Kurt practically shouted at Sebastian in a weird German accent, gesturing madly with his hands and looking at Sebastian like he owned the world even though Sebastian was taller than him.

Before Sebastian even got the chance to open his mouth and ask him if had gone completely mad, Kurt was speaking again.

“And who is zis Kurt anyway, huh?” he asked, pronouncing his own name so it sounded like ‘Kurdt’. “I should probably kill you because you mistook my awesomeness for somebody else’s, but seeing zat you’re a stupid American who doesn’t even know his ovn history, it can’t be helped. But mistake my awesomeness again, and I’ll make you veep like a little baby girl man boy, kesesesese~”

Sebastian was so not following, what with Kurt speaking so fucking fast with that odd accent about stuff that didn’t make any sense at all, and then he started laughing in a way that was seriously freaking Sebastian out.

All the sudden, Sebastian heard some kind of upbeat music starting to play, and Kurt stopped laughing and pulled up his phone, which was apparently the source.

“Oi!” he shouted into the phone in place of a greeting. “Vhere ze fuck did you losers go?”

Sebastian watched Kurt’s (because it _was_ Kurt, wasn’t it?) rude manner in silent fascination, as the man listened with a snort to whoever was at the other end, before talking again.

“Vell, I’m awesome, and I never get lost, you vere obviously momentarily blinded by my awesomeness and couldn’t keep up vith me. I did not get lost! Yeah, yeah, shut it tomato-head, I’m coming, zough I don’t see vhy you can't come to me since I’m ze most awesome one anyvay.” Kurt had started walking away, still talking into his phone, when he suddenly turned around and smirked at Sebastian. “You better vatch your back,” he said, and this time Sebastian was sure he was talking to him and he smirked widely. “Next time I’ll invade your vital regions if you’re not careful.” He winked at Sebastian’s stunned face before turning around and walking away without a glance.

Sebastian was left staring at the spot where Kurt had disappeared from, wondering just what the _fuck_ had happened.

It had been Kurt, he just knew it, although he was starting to doubt it because of the odd way Kurt had been acting. For starters, he had never heard the boy curse, no matter the circumstances; neither had he ever called other people losers or was so obviously _rude_ as he had been. And he had been using the word ‘awesome’ far more often than what should be considered acceptable for a sentence to even work grammatically. Then he had been saying it all with a German accent of all things, and generally behaved like a total jerk. And let’s not forget the look –– what the hell was that all about? He had been dressed in a way that reminded Sebastian of a Nazi uniform, only it had been dark blue and not green or black. Thankfully, the outfit hadn’t had a red band with a swastika on it, much to Sebastian’s relief. Apart from that, he had looked like an albino with that grey hair and those red eyes. And what had he called himself? Oh, that’s right – _Prussia_. Sebastian knew that he deliberately hadn’t paid attention to all Jeff’s crap, but he was pretty sure that ‘Prussia’ was something he’d read about in a history book some time ago, and it wasn’t an actual person he had been reading about.

But Sebastian didn’t get any time to come up with some kind of logical explanation to all that before Nick and Jeff was there once again, and he was left feeling like the strange encounter had just been a dream.

“There you are, dude!” Jeff exclaimed and forced Sebastian to look away from the spot where Kurt had disappeared. “What happened?” Jeff continued. “You were right there, and all the sudden we turned around only to find you gone.”

“You’ll find that you actually walked away from me, smart arse,” Sebastian snapped.

“Damn, someone’s grumpy,” Jeff teased, and now Sebastian was really starting to get pissed off.

“Hey, are you okay?” Nick asked, concern in his voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just thought I saw someone, that’s all,” Sebastian said.

“Who?” Nick wanted to know.

“No one important, and I’m not even sure if it was him,” Sebastian said and then started to follow Jeff who was going somewhere again, effectively making sure that Nick wouldn’t ask any more questions that Sebastian really didn’t want to answer.

Nick got the hint and dropped the whole thing, and for the next hour or so the two of them were dragged around by Jeff to different parts of the complex. Sebastian didn’t register most of the things that were going on around him, and, to be honest, he didn’t really want to either. But his oblivious state seemed to come to an end, like all the good things do, and it did in the worst possible way.

Sebastian didn’t really know what they were doing, but all of the sudden Jeff exclaimed “Oh my God, it’s France!” and started more or less running and before Sebastian knew it, he was standing face to face with a pair of red eyes again.

Neither Jeff nor Nick seemed to notice that Kurt Hummel was right there though, and in a distance he could hear Jeff’s voice telling the [blond girl](http://hetalia.kitawiki.net/images/4/47/France01.png) in a blue cloak and red pants that she was a wonderful France and Nick asking how the hell someone could be a country. However, Sebastian wasn’t paying attention –– his focus was fully on Kurt who was looking back at him with unreadable eyes. The silent exchange between them was soon broken when Nick looked at the other ones in ‘France’s’ group.

“Kurt?” he asked, and Kurt broke the eye contact with Sebastian to look at Nick with his red eyes.

“Long time no see,” Kurt said in his normal voice and winked at Nick. Jeff finally seemed to have caught up with his surroundings.

“Oh my God, _Kurt_!” he exclaimed, sounding hysterical. “Kurt, is that really you?”

_‘Yes Kurt, is it really you?_ ’ Sebastian silently asked.

“Yeah.” Kurt smiled, and it was finally his own smile, a facial expression that Sebastian recognized as Kurt’s and not the character that he was apparently dressing up as.

“Holy fuck, you’re dressed as Prussia!” Jeff continued, and now he was definitely hysterical.

“Indeed I am, aren’t I awesome?” Kurt smirked devilishly, and Sebastian stared because that wasn’t the Kurt he was used to.

“You totally are,” Jeff agreed.

“You know these guys?” A girl asked Kurt, and Sebastian finally looked away from the boy to look at what seemed to be his friends.

Apart from the tall girl, who Sebastian recognized as the one he had overheard speaking with a French accent just hours ago, there were two other girls. [The one](http://static.zerochan.net/full/26/00/262526.jpg) who just talked to Kurt had long light-brown hair under a white headscarf, and she was wearing a big, green dress and a white apron. Her eyes were really green, and furthermore, she was carrying a frying pan for some reason. That surely beat all the other oddities he’d seen today by far.

The other girl was much shorter than the rest of them. But Kurt was rather tall, compared to the average girl, and ‘France’ was quite tall too (although Sebastian noticed that she had a pair of boots with high heels, so maybe that’s why), and the girl in the green dress was neither tall nor short. But the third girl was about the same height as Sebastian remembered Rachel Berry being. But that, and the fact that they were both brunettes were just about the only things those two had in common. For starters, the short [girl’s ](http://hetalia.kitawiki.net/images/6/64/SpainChibi.png)hair was short and rather untamed, like Kurt’s hair also seemed to be, and she too had really defined green eyes. She was wearing some kind of uniform, too: The whole outfit was beige, and it had a lot of pockets. In addition, she seemed to have some white bandages on both of her legs just below the knee and dark brown shoes. She was also more tanned than the others.

“Yes,” Kurt answered the brunette, and that was all the information he gave her. “I didn’t know you watched _Hetalia_ , or were into anime at all, Jeff.”

“Yeah, well I started re-watching my old _Pokémon_ videos ––”

“While he should had been packing,” Nick injected.

“–– and then it sort of escalated,” Jeff continued. “I started watching on the internet, and I think I was on youtube when I found _Hetalia_ , and I had to google it and stuff because it was very confusing.”

“Oh God, I know. And it’s so logical, and they really start from the beginning and explain it all slowly too, don’t they?” Kurt said with a sarcastic chuckle.

“Exactly. But seriously, you and your friends look amazing.”

The whole group seemed to shine up at those word, and all the girls smiled brightly at Jeff.

“Do you see who we are?” the girl in the green dress asked.

“Well Prussia, of course,” Jeff said, nodding at Kurt, “and it was France who caught my attention in the first place,” the blond girl grinned, “and you’re obviously Hungary,” he said the the girl in the green dress, “and you’re Spain,” he said to the short girl.

“I don’t get it, they're _countries_?” Nick interrupted.

“Well yeah, that’s the concept of _Hetalia_ –– every country has its own character, and the characters are the countries’ stereotypes,” Hungary tried to explain. “France is a perv, for example; America’s an idiot and so on.”

“But I’ve never heard of Prussia,” Nick said.

“Oh no, he didn’t,” France said quietly, and all the sudden Kurt had yanked Nick forward by his t-shirt, and was giving him a murderous look.

“Nou you lissen stupid American,” he said in a low voice, and the German accent was back. “I taught your country hou to be awesome, and if you ever forget about me again I’ll send Gilbird on you, and you're sure von’t forget my awesomeness after zat.”

Nick looked frightened to death for a second, but then Kurt’s fear-inspiring façade cracked, and he broke out in laughter, letting Nick go and pulling back.

“God, you should have seen your face, Nick,” he said through his laughter, shaking his head.

“You have to excuse him,” France said. “Whenever he has a costume on, he’s always more or less in character, and Prussia really would kick your arse for not remembering him.”

“Is that so,” Nick said, trying to pull himself together.

“Sorry, Nick –– it’s just that I can’t resist such an golden opportunity when it’s given to me.” Kurt smiled at Sebastian, but he didn’t look regretful at all. “And I’m being rude, well-being me –– being Prussia, I’m just acting like normal. But anyway, these are my friends Olivia, Kimberly and Ann,” he said, gesturing toward Hungary first, then Spain and, lastly, France.

“Nice to meet you,” Jeff said. “I’m Jeff, and these two are my boyfriend and my best friend who really don’t want to be here.”

Everyone laughed at that, well, except Sebastian who was more or less in agony. He really didn’t know how to handle the situation; therefore, he hadn’t actually said a word throughout the entire conversation. It bugged him, but at the same time he didn’t know what else to do, and it felt kind of safe not to say anything at all. So he decided that he was going to silently observe the others (or Kurt really, but hell had to freeze over before he admitted that) and just stay out of their weirdness. But fate conspired against him it seemed.

“I’m Nick,” Nick said, “and the unusually quiet one here is Sebastian.”

“Your name is _Sebastian_?!” Ann and Olivia exclaimed at the same time.

“Kurt, his name is Sebastian,” Kimberly said, pulling in Kurt’s sleeve in a restless manner, like she wanted some kind of explanation. Sebastian would have liked one, too.

“Yes, I’m aware,” Kurt said, rolling his red eyes. “But that’s just as far as the similarities go.”

“Are you sure? He’s quite tall,” Ann said, eyeing Sebastian up and down in a way that he didn’t like _at all_.

“Are you a butler, Sebastian?” Kurt asked him, looking sternly at him, and Jeff and Nick were outright laughing beside him.

“No, I’m not,” he spat out.

“Are you a demon?” Kurt continued.

“Some would definitely argue that he is,” Jeff chuckled beside him, and apparently it was the wrong thing to say because the girls were all smirking triumphantly.

“See!” Ann said.

“Well, he’s still nothing like him, I assure you,” Kurt said.

“What the hell are you on about?” Sebastian demanded to know.

“Look, the thing is that in Japanese the word ‘butler’ can also be read as ‘demon,’ and someone made a whole manga, which then became an anime, out of that concept. And the demon-butler’s name is Sebastian, and that’s why we’re freaking out,” Olivia explained.

“Seriously?” Sebastian couldn’t help but to ask because _really_?

“Yeah, well the character was voted the Sexiest Man in Anime 2011*,” Kurt said.

“Wait, I have a picture of him on my phone,” Olivia said and started going through Kurt’s pockets because apparently _he_ had her phone.

“Jeez Olivia, I can pull it out for you!”

“And you don’t have ‘a’ picture of him, you have like a million,” Ann said.

“Well, can you blame me?” Olivia said and Kurt opened his jacket, showing off the black button-down shirt he had underneath, and pulled out an iPhone from an inside pocket before handing it over. Olivia quickly flickered through her phone and then shoved it into Sebastian’s hands.

Jeff and Nick looked over his shoulder at the [raven haired man on the screen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kuroshitsuji_Volume_1_cover.jpg), dressed in a smoking, pouring up tea and looking like every thirteen-year-old girl’s dream. Sebastian felt sick.

“Well, you’re certainly nothing like him,” Nick said with a grin.

“What’s the name of the anime?” Jeff wanted to know.

“ _Kuroshitsuji_ , or _Black Butler_ in English,” Kurt said, as Sebastian handed the phone back because he really couldn’t stand knowing that he shared his name with a character like _that_. “But if you’re gonna watch it, I seriously recommend that you read the manga instead –– it’s so much more gay.”

Oh God, do I even _want_ to know, Sebastian thought to himself.

“Yeah,” Ann was saying dreamingly.

“Holy crap, guys, we really need to get going!” Olivia interrupted before Jeff would ask just _why_ it was so gay.

Kurt looked at his watch. “Gott, you’re right.” He took Olivia’s phone and put it back in his inner pocket in a hurry.

“Where are you going?” Nick asked.

“Walk with us,” was all Kurt said and then started going toward the exit of the building, Ann walking next to him.

“We’re going to another building where they have all the cosplay shows and contests,” Olivia began explaining as they walked. “We’re a cosplay circle you see, the four of us and two others, and we’ve actually become somewhat internet famous with our skits and photos, so we’re kind of professional you could say.”

“As in professional cosplayers?” Jeff asked, as he walked next to Olivia with Nick holding his hand beside him, leaving Sebastian at the back with short Kimberly who was throwing him not at all discreet side glances every now and then. Sebastian made a mental note to suffocate both of his friends with a pillow when they would fall asleep later on.

“Yeah. It’s not like it’s a profession or anything, but we do know what we’re doing, and we manage to produce some brilliant stuff if I may say so myself. And the administration seemed to think so as well because somehow they knew about us, and we were asked if we could hold a lecture about cosplaying, how you do it and stuff.”

“Really? But that’s amazing!” Jeff said.

“Thank you,” Olivia smiled as she took the frying pan in her hand and tucked it under her arm. “So naturally, we’re sending Kurt in to do the whole damn thing while we just sit and watch,” she deadpanned, and Ann laughed in front of them.

“Yeah, that basically sums it up,” she said, turning around to face them. “We chose him because I can’t stand on a stage and talk to an audience –– I can only act. Olivia always gets too sidetracked, and Kim is shy as hell.”

“And I’m a guy,” Kurt said, not turning around.

“Yeah, that too.” Ann was smirking, as she looked forward again and patted Kurt on the shoulder teasingly.

Olivia and Jeff continued to talk all the way out of the building and until they got to the other one, with Ann and Nick occasionally saying something, while Kimberly kept looking up at Sebastian and Kurt and Bas staying both silent.

They were lead into another building, not far from the one they came from, and they stopped outside two double doors where a lot of people were already waiting to get in.

“Right-o,” Olivia said, “I’m gonna go with Kurt and help with the technology and stuff. You’ll take a place for me, right?” she looked at Ann and Kimberly and promptly handed over her frying pan to Ann.

“Of course, who do you take us for?” Ann said.

“The other two thirds in the Bad Touch Trio?” Apparently that was funny because everyone, except Nick and Sebastian, laughed, including Jeff.

“See you later,” Kurt said to all of them and then walked away with Hungary.

Ann and Jeff quickly got into a discussion about something, and Ann more or less forcibly made Kimberly a part of the conversation. Sebastian was beginning to like fake-France more and more: She was not as talkative as Olivia, but neither did she stare like Kimberly, and she kept both Jeff and Kimberly occupied, so that they didn’t bother Sebastian. She was growing on him, despite her terrible fake French accent.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Nick said beside him, quietly so that it was only a conversation between the two of them.

“What do you expect me to say?”

“I expected you to complain a lot more, to be honest.”

“How do you know I’m not just saving it all up for later?”

“While that could be it, I don’t think so, since you're usually very quick to comment on _everything_.” Fuck, Nick really did know him too well.

“Then I guess I just have nothing to say,” Sebastian finally admitted.

“Is there perhaps a particular reason to that?”

“This wasn’t what I expected, if that’s what you mean.”

“God, yeah I know what you’re getting at,” Nick trailed off. “I really didn’t see that it was Kurt at first, with the hair and eyes and the uniform he was really unrecognisable.”

No, he wasn’t, Sebastian thought to himself. Sure, he looked different, but you could easily see Kurt under all that crap, and it was still Kurt’s voice, even though he could apparently manage to lower it down, so that he didn’t sound like a girl all the time.

Sebastian was stopped from saying all of that though, which was probably good because the doors suddenly opened, and people started welling into the auditorium.

“Come on, let’s find a nice place!” Ann called out, waving the frying pan over her head in a way that was life-threatening to all around her.

“We should probably get some seats in the front, so Kurt can see us,” Kimberly said in a very small voice; amazingly enough, everyone heard her. They walked wordlessly to the front of the auditorium, Ann making a way through the crowd for everyone else to follow.

“Here would be good, wouldn’t it?” she asked and pointed with the frying pan at the third row where there was a large empty spot in the middle.

“Yeah, it seems to have room for all of us,” Jeff confirmed.

Ann walked in first, followed by Kimberly and then Jeff and Nick, leaving Sebastian at the other end.

“Can you take the frying pan and place it next to you, so Olivia can sit there?” Ann leaned forward and asked him when they had sat down.

Figuring that he’d rather sit next to Olivia than Kimberly, he nodded in confirmation, then took the pan that was handed to him and placed it on the seat next to him. It was surprisingly light for a frying pan.

Olivia soon joined them; Judging by her phone in her hand, Sebastian guessed that she had texted to one of her friends, so she would know where they sat.

“Thanks for holding the seat,” she said to him with a smile, as she sat down.

“Wasn’t that hard,” he said. “Your pan is a lot lighter than I thought it would be, though.” He didn’t really know what made him start a conversation with that girl who was apparently obsessed with his fictional namesake and was dressed as _Hungary_ , of all things. But even though he wasn’t looking, he knew that Nick was smirking next to him because Nick was a douche.

“It’s not actually a real frying pan, but thank you, I’m really glad you thought it were,” Olivia said. “It’s actually made of cardboard, gauze bandage and paint; otherwise, there’s no way I would have managed to carry around a real frying pan for three days.” Ann’s waving the frying pan in question suddenly made much more sense.

“Why do you have it though?” Sebastian asked because he really didn’t want to sit there quietly and stare at the empty stage, and Nick was not an option at the moment, since he seemed to have stepped into dick-mood. And although Sebastian would rather die than admit it, he somehow wanted to be liked by Kurt’s weird friends. He decided to come up with a logical explanation to that later: It would probably involve some level for revenge or humiliation for Kurt, just to make him feel better about it all.

“It’s a part of Hungary accessories and what she usually has; like Prussia with his bird, you know the one on Kurt’s head, Hungary has a frying pan. It’s because she was asked by God in one episode to hit France with it the next time she saw him, and she’s usually illustrated with it.”

“She was asked by God?” Sebastian raised an eyebrow because really, what kind of shit was that anime?

“Yeah... _Hetalia_ ’s quite random, and it only makes sense half of the time, but yes, she was asked by God to do that.”

“Okay...”

“But every character has his or her unique thing, like Hungary has a frying pan, France has a rose, Spain a tomato, America has a hamburger of course, and Prussia has Gilbird.”

“Gilbird?” Sebastian asked.

“The bird on his head. Every country also has a ‘human name’ as it’s called, and Prussia’s human name is Gilbert Beilschmidt, so his bird’s name is therefore Gilbird. I don’t know why he has it though.”

Suddenly the stage lit up, and Sebastian and Olivia both turned to the sage.

“Was he okay, Olive?” Ann leaned forward and whispered rather loudly to Olivia.

“A little more nervous than usual, but he’s gonna be fine, you know Kurt,” Olivia leaned forward too and answered. They didn’t say anything after that because Kurt stepped onto the stage right then, carrying a laptop and a microphone which he placed on a podium at the right side of the stage. His jacket was still open, and with the black shirt showing underneath, the sight of him made Sebastian’s stomach drop. He looked really good, although Sebastian would take that confession to the grave. Kurt then pulled up the laptop’s screen and went around the podium to pick up some wires that he connected with the laptop, and suddenly the laptop’s wallpaper was projected on a big white screen behind him. The wallpaper was the logo of the convention Sebastian saw, and he guessed that that wasn’t Kurt’s computer.

Kurt picked up the microphone and switched it on. “Okay, can you hear me?” he spoke into the mic.

“Yes!” was the loud answer from the audience, one that Sebastian didn't join in to.

Kurt laughed fondly. “Well, that’s good. I’m just gonna pull up the presentation here, and then I’ll start,” he said, looking down at the laptop again and moving the arrow with one hand while he held the mic in the other. “Here we go,” he said and clicked somewhere, and then there was a photo of him and his three friends and two others, a boy and a girl, that Sebastian didn’t recognize. They were all wearing costumes, Kurt and the ones he knew were dressed like they were today, while the other boy had blond, back-slicked hair and wore a green uniform, similar to Kurt’s. The girl had very dark, short hair and a lock that stood right up in her hairline. She wore a long navy blue coat with a white jabot and glasses. Above them was a title saying _The Guide To Cosplay_.

“Okay, let’s begin,” Kurt said and walked to the middle of the stage where he was met by a roar from the audience, Sebastian excluded. “Hello, I’m Kurt Hummel, although today I’m also going under the name of Prussia slash Gilbert, as some of you may have noticed.” He smiled at no one in particular, and people giggled around Sebastian, as if what Kurt had said was even remotely funny. “Today I’m gonna talk about cosplay, what it is, and the basics you need to know if you want to cosplay yourself. I would appreciate if you waited to ask your questions until the end of the presentation, just so it won’t get too confusing,” he said smoothly. “Those guys behind me are, well, _me_ and my cosplay circle, and if you’re wondering why there are only four of us here today, Germany and Austria couldn’t make it. But anyway, let’s get started.” Kurt walked back to stand behind the podium where he clicked on the laptop to change the picture, but Sebastian just faintly noticed it because his eyes were glued on Kurt.

He had seen Kurt on stage before, many times, such as when McKinley High did _West Side Story_ or during some of New Directions’ performances, but he came to realize that this was very different. For starters, Sebastian didn’t have some brilliant plan to crush Kurt and his teammates today, neither was Kurt an ‘enemy’ who stood in the way of something Sebastian wanted. They were reduced in a way to being just Kurt and Sebastian, and he had absolutely nothing to lose or gain by sitting there and listening to Kurt. The other big difference was that it was _only_ Kurt on the sage, not him and some other people next to him, and he demanded Sebastian’s full focus. Finally, he was talking, not singing. Although Sebastian had never voiced it (and he would gladly take this secret to his grave), he did think that Kurt could sing rather well, but there was a big difference between talking and singing. Kurt’s _own_ words were the only thing he was hearing, not the lyrics to a song that someone else written, and it didn’t really matter what Kurt was talking about because Sebastian found that he wanted to hear what he had to say.

Meanwhile, Kurt continued with his lecture, talking about cosplay’s origin, the name was short for ‘costume play’ apparently. “Now, if you want to start cosplaying, there are some things you would need to consider. Apart from the obvious struggle of _choosing_ just the right character,” the crowd laughed, Olivia giggling madly, as if she was in on a private joke, “there’s of course the issue of clothes. My personal advice to anyone interested in cosplay is joining or even starting a circle with other people who share your addiction because cosplay can be such a huge burden really if you’re gonna do it all by yourself, and in a circle you can help each other, and you won’t have to do _everything_. And it’s a lot more fun when you can share the experience with others, too.

“The one thing that every cosplayer should learn how to do is to _sew_. Cosplaying is expensive, and if you’re a normal person with an average income, then it really helps if you learn how to make stuff yourself. Obviously, you can’t make _everything_ yourself, unless you are some gifted wonder-cosplayer that is, and shoes, for example, is something that you usually can’t make yourself. Second-hand stores are a gold mine. You can find real bargains there if you look hard enough. In fact,” he looked down at his knee-high boots, “I think I found these boots at a flea market, to be honest, and I know for a fact that Ann, who’s cosplaying France today,  found her red pants in a junk sale in Manhattan. But you obviously can’t find the whole Prussian uniform at a second-hand store, and if you’re not good enough to make it yourself yet, you would have to buy it. There are companies that sell whole cosplay outfits, everything from the wig to the shoes, and some even customize, so you just have to measure yourself and then order it online. However, it can be rather pricey, and keep in mind that you’re not allowed to take part in many competitions if you haven’t made the outfit yourself. You kind of need to buy wigs and shoes of course, but everything that’s actual clothing, no matter if you’re a robot, a pokémon or Sailor Moon, you need to put it together yourself. And like I said, that’s hard, especially if you are planning to cosplay [Alphonse Elric](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3119/2514809098_ce260870e2_o.jpg) from _Fullmetal Alchemist_ , I mean that would be a challenge...”

The crowd laughed again, even Nick who seemed to know whom Kurt was talking about. Sebastian felt totally out of place. What kind of a strange world was this anyway –– where the _norm_ was to walk around in colourful wigs and with contacts, talking how to play dress-up? If it weren’t for the fact that he was sitting in the middle of the row, right under Kurt’s eye and in the front where everyone would notice him, he would have left quicker than Olivia could say “what the fuck.” But even though he didn’t care what Olivia or the crowd behind him or even what Kurt thought of him, he did care about Jeff. Because he was there for Jeff’s sake, because Jeff was one of his two closest friends, and, therefore, he had decided to suck it up and endure these three days of hell for him. That was a promise he made silently to the world just when he and Nick came up with the whole idea, and he was not going to break his word just because Kurt Hummel decided to make an appearance after three years of silence, dressed in a blue military uniform with a yellow chick on his head. Jeff (and Nick too for that matter) was more important than Sebastian’s personal pride and his opinion about this whole convention, even if his thoughts were somewhere along the lines that everyone willing to be here should be sent to a mental hospital.

For his own mental health, he decided to tune out what Kurt was talking about, so he was only vaguely hearing Kurt talk about how his group of friends specialized on different things that apparently needed to be done. Ann and Kurt sew most of the things (no surprise there, Sebastian quietly snorted); Olivia did the editing of all the sketches and photo shoots they apparently took, and Sebastian didn't catch more than that and thanked God for it.

After a period of time that could both have been just ten minutes or a full hour, Kurt said. “Okay, anyone got any questions?”

There was a moment of hesitation before a wave of excitement swept through the audience, and Sebastian heard the rustle of fabric, as hands flew up in the air.

“Oh mein Gott, have I been that unclear?” Kurt asked, as his eyes swept over the audience, and they all laughed, even Sebastian who chuckled faintly. “Right, [Sailor Jupiter](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120115172954/protagonist/images/b/b1/Susi-sailor-jupiter.jpg), there to the left, what’s on your mind?”

A girl in something that looked like a school uniform that had been changed into a superhero outfit stood up at the right end of the auditorium, on Kurt’s left side. “It’s not that I didn’t think that male cosplayers didn’t exist, but I kind of thought of them like unicorns; you know, only Britain could see them,” she said, and it made absolutely no sense at all to Sebastian, but beside him Olivia burst out in laughter, bending forward and labouring for breath. Kurt laughed into the mic before moving it away from his mouth, and Sebastian could see that he was laughing hard.

“Yeah, well,” he pulled himself together. “The short answer to that is that I’m a unicorn, and you’re magical.” The crowd cheered at that, and someone whistled. “The long answer would be that there _are_ male cosplayers out there, but as you know it’s mostly women who cosplay. And personally I just love clothes and fashion, so for me cosplay is combining my passion for clothes with characters that I love, getting to make costumes and dress up as them. And yeah, it takes a certain kind of person to actually do that, and it is somewhat more acceptable for girls to cosplay than for boys, but screw that.”

The crowd applauded at Kurt’s big words, and Ann were screaming “Yeah, that’s right!” fist-pumping the air. After a while it settled down, and the girl who had talked about unicorns sat down.

“Okay, next question. Er, you there, with the green ponytail.” Sebastian didn’t even bother to turn around because he really didn’t need to see her after Kurt’s description.

“Where are you from?” was the question.

“I’m from Ohio, a town called Lima, but I live in New York currently.”

So Kurt had made it out Lima after all? Sebastian felt oddly glad about the knowledge.

“Next, eh, yeah, you there.” Kurt nodded to someone in the crowd.

“Eh, I saw you and your cosplay group earlier this summer at Anime Expo, and you were really good.”

“Oh, thank you,” Kurt said.

“But I mean you were _really_ good, as an actor, and I wonder how you manage to do that.”

“Wow, I didn’t expect that.” Kurt smiled at the girl who had complimented him, and _fuck_ that was a beautiful smile. “But to answer your question, I’m actually not only a cosplayer, I’m a real Broadway nerd too, so the passion for acting has always been there I think. As a matter of fact, I took several acting classes in college, New York’s Academy For Dramatic Arts if you’re wondering, and I learnt so much about acting there. But when it comes to portraying characters when cosplaying, it’s like getting to know them on a whole new level and kind of letting them possess your body. For example, now that I’m Prussia I had to learn how to speak in German accent for starters, so I looked it up on YouTube. And then I do a lot of research about the character. _Hetalia_ has its own wiki, and I frequently use it to get a bigger picture of the characters, Prussia in this case. I also reread and rewatch the series to see Prussia in action and observe how he acts in certain situations and so on. I kind of run this character’s analysis in my head and try to figure out how he would react to everything and why. Then the final step is actually when I put on the costume, even if it’s just the contacts or the wig or Gilbird or something, and all the things I know about him just sort of come to life, and I’m him. But of course you don’t have to do all that, I just do it because I’m obsessed and like to know everything, even though we’re not going to even mention it.” Kurt paused and laughed to himself a little, looking down before looking at the girl again with a grin on his face. “I should warn you though that I have a tendency to stay in character more or less all the time as long as I’m wearing the costume. And I just act out whenever I’m given an opportunity. I mean today alone I bumped into an old acquiescence of mine whom I hadn’t seen in years, and I think I managed to really freak him out when I went all Prussia on him.” Olivia looked past Sebastian at Nick, and so did the rest of the group, all of them laughing, but Sebastian looked at Kurt who was looking back at him, and he knew that Kurt wasn’t talking about Nick at all. “To my defence, his facial expression was absolutely priceless,” he continued in a low, conspiratorial voice, not taking his eyes off Sebastian.

It felt really strange and sort of thrilling to share this with Kurt. Sebastian didn’t understand why Kurt hadn’t told anyone about it, because judging by the way his friends were acting they all thought that Kurt was referring to Nick. But knowing that Kurt had some kind of influence over Sebastian left an unpleasant aftertaste, as if it gave him the upper hand in whatever game they were playing. They had barely spoken to each other apart from when Kurt had bumped into him, and Sebastian couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing. One thing’s for sure –– he really wanted to know what was going on in Kurt’s head.

After the laughter died down, Kurt finally looked away and took another question.

“Will you be participating in the cosplay contest tomorrow?”

“Of course, what do you take me for?” Kurt said teasingly. “My group and I will be doing a skit.”

“What's your group’s name? I want to look you up later,” was the next question.

“Well since you ask, I’m not shamelessly promoting my group. The name is _Porcelain Cosplay_ –– you can just google it, and you’ll find both the YouTube channel and the deviantart. And I can only take one last question, then I’ll have to get my arse off the stage before the administration starts to yell at me for making this longer than I should. Er, okay, [Ichigo](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120221064833/protagonist/images/f/fb/Tumblr_lb555cCkux1qdms6d.gif)* at the back, you get the last question.”

“I actually follow your group on both YouTube and deviant, and since you cosplay as a lot of different characters, I was wondering who’s your favourite character and why?”

“Oh Gods, well that would be a really hard question if it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve had this conversation with my friends on the way here actually, luckily for me. Northern and South Italy are my favourite characters, and don’t make me choose one of them because they’re the same country, and together they complete each other. Not that I ship it, I’m GerIta* and Spamano* all the way, and I mean come on, it’s practically canon,” Kurt seemed to have said something great because the audience went completely bananas at his last words, shouting out their agreement or disapproval, and Kurt just took in all that noise with a tiny grin on his face, like he was pleased with the outcome. “Anyway, I’d love to get into a discussion about pairings, and it really is just unbelievable that I managed not to mention my ships until now,” Kurt said over the audience, making them shut up. “However, I really need to get off the stage now. Thank you all for listening and not throwing stuff at me, you’ve been a wonderful audience, and I’ve hope you’ve learnt something.” Kurt walked to the middle of the stage again, and everyone started clapping as he bowed, even Sebastian. When Kurt looked up again, his eyes fell on Sebastian who felt as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t. But then Kurt smiled, that beautiful smile again, and Sebastian couldn’t take his eyes off of him, as he turned around, took the laptop and walked backstage.

As soon as Kurt was out of sight, it was like the air went out of Sebastian, and he realized that he had been sitting in the same position the whole time, barely moving at all. He bit his inner cheek, almost drawing blood, as he stood up with the others, but he didn’t want it to show that he was stiff from being tense the whole lecture. They moved slowly out of the auditorium, following the stream of people, and Sebastian was quite glad that he had Olivia in front of him, so he knew exactly where to go.

“We’ll meet up with Kurt outside,” she turned around and told them, her phone in her hand.

It was a relief to come outside. Sebastian sucked the air into his lungs, and it felt like a ten ton block had been lifted off his shoulders.

“You can’t stand crowded places?” Olivia looked up at him with calculating eyes, holding her hand over her forehead to avoid the sun from blinding her.

Sebastian chuckled at her comment. “I have no problem with them, it’s more that I like being outside than inside.”

“I wouldn’t take you for an outside person.”

“Well what’s the fun in being predictable?”

Kurt came out of the building right then, looking like he’d been running or something by the way he was out of breath.

“Wow, what happened to you?” Jeff said.

Kurt looked at him with a smirk, and something told Sebastian that he was in between being himself and the one he was dressed up as. He seemed to slip back to himself though, as the edges around the smile softened, and he gave out a breathless laugh. “Yeah, well I, or Prussia really, figured that the fastest way to get out was to take a detour to avoid the crowd, and that I should run, so it would go faster.”

“Typical Gilbert,” Ann said.

“So how was it?” Kurt asked, sounding self-conscious for some reason.

“It was fantastic,” Olivia assured him. “You were smart and witty and goddamn hot standing there with your jacket open.”

Kurt looked at her doubtfully. “I was gayness personified, jabbering all about how I loved to make costumes,” he deadpanned.

“And I’m positive we’re gonna get a lot more views after this because you know how women love gay men,” Ann said. “Being a guy who is into cosplay _and_ a gay man, really I’m surprised that you weren’t molested on your way out.”

“It’s always nice to know that you’re not at all using me to get more subscribers for our channel,” Kurt said, and Sebastian couldn’t stop his mouth from twisting up at the comment. Kurt looked at him just then, and once again Sebastian felt like he had been caught under Kurt's watchful eye. But instead of retreating he looked back, not really sure what it would do, but not willing to back down from the staring contest he and Kurt had seemed to develop. Kurt’s iris was still red as ever, contacts he had said, and the grey hair was a wig. Although Kurt really pulled the look off, there was a part of Sebastian that wanted the outrageous fashion clothes from the women’s section back, instead of the blue military uniform which Kurt undoubtedly looked stunning in. It wasn’t just Kurt there in front of him, it was that weird character that he was dressed as, and Sebastian wanted to see Kurt, and just Kurt, if even for a second.

They both looked away at the same time, as Olivia handed her phone back to Kurt, making him take it, and Sebastian’s phone vibrating in his pocket, telling him that he had a new text. Curiously, he pulled his phone up to see who it was, just to find that it was from his baby sister.

**From Sis': Traumatized yet?**

**Almost** , Sebastian typed back. **I think I would have to go through therapy after this** , he said and then pressed Send.

The answer came second after.

**From Sis': Honey, you already do.**

He couldn’t suppress a chuckle at the text, it was so nice to have a conversation which he actually could follow to one hundred percent, and his sister always seemed to bring a smile to his face even during the most inappropriate situations. He usually repaid her by doing the same.

The conversation had continued around him while he wasn’t paying attention, and he looked up to find Kurt looking at him again. But Kurt’s eyes weren’t filled with fondness, curiousness, or calculation; instead, he was giving him a hard and cold glare, for the first time in years. Sebastian really didn’t know what he had done to deserve that glare, and he frowned at Kurt who just seemed to get even colder.

“Anyway,” Kurt said, demonstratively turning his head away from Sebastian. “What are your plans now?” he asked Nick and Jeff.

“Er, well, I thought that since we’re so near the part of the game part of the convention I thought about checking it out,” Jeff said hesitatingly.

“We’re going back to the main hall to load up with pocky, but we’ll probably see each other again, right?” Kurt said, and although he sounded sincere, Sebastian wasn’t fooled. He saw that Kurt wanted to get the hell away from him, the question was only why.

“Oh, yeah,” Jeff said somewhat taken aback.

“If not, you can always come and see our skit tomorrow,” Olivia said, smiling warmly at them.

“Can’t miss that, can we?” Nick smiled back.

“See you around,” Kurt said and then started walking away, Kimberly and Ann following him. Olivia looked at Sebastian one last time and gave him a little shrug, as to say that she didn't know either what had gotten into Kurt, and then she gave them one last “goodbye, it was really nice to meet you,” before going after her friends.

“What the hell was that?” Nick said after they had left and immediately looked at Sebastian.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t even say anything,” he said dully.

“Maybe, but still,” Nick shrugged. “Who was the text from, by the way?”

“Claire, she wondered if I was still sane.”

“You’re a lot of things, Sebastian, but sane has never been one of them,” Jeff said with a smirk, and Sebastian punched his arm, grinning despite himself.

“And you’re an utter freak,” Sebastian shot back.

“Proud of it.”

The rest of the day were filled with many people squeezed together in small spaces, Jeff fanboying and talking to more random people, and Nick and Sebastian more or less following after him, making sure that he didn’t get hurt. Not once did they see Kurt or any of his friends again, and while Sebastian thought that it wasn’t really odd since the convention was _huge_ , he still felt as if Kurt was avoiding him. And he really shouldn’t care if Kurt were in fact avoiding him, but he _did_ , and he was man enough to admit it. Only to himself though, in the privacy of his mind. He’d be damned if he said it out loud.

After a long day, Nick, with the help of Sebastian, finally managed to persuade Jeff that they should head back to the hotel and get some sleep, and that the convention would still be there tomorrow. They took a detour through Burger King and bought some dinner, and although Sebastian didn’t really like fast food places, he was too hungry to even bother to complain. It was food, it was fast, and it made his growling stomach shut the fuck up.

The hotel wasn’t so far from the complex where the convention was held, only a few blocks, and it was a relief because he was _tired_. Who could have guessed that this kind of shit was so _exhausting_? Not to mention that it had been hot as hell back at the convention, with all the people, standing on top of each other, every single one of them radiating body heat. He really didn’t understand how Kurt could walk around in a wig and that uniform of his. He must have been dying underneath all those layers.

Sebastian was the one who had the key cards to the room, which was on the fourth floor of the hotel. He walked ahead of the other two and locked up the door before basically just walking over to the sofa and falling down on it. The room was for three people, but in reality it was a double bed and a sofa that was big enough to sleep on and was made with sheets and pillows and everything –– insinuating that it was meant to be slept on.

Sebastian had actually realized over the years that being snobbish didn’t really get him too far, and having parents who loved him so much that they were willing to take away all his assets and throw him out on the street if it made him understand the meaning of gratitude, he quickly learnt to keep his mouth shut most of the time. But old habits die hard, and it wouldn’t be him if he had nothing to complain about, but he knew to pick his fights. And the sofa _was_ rather comfortable, despite being a sofa, and he’d much rather sleep there than to share a bed with Nick or Jeff, or the two of them together. Been there, done that, never doing it again. _Never_.

But while Sebastian was completely done for the day, Nick and Jeff still seemed to have some energy within them, those horny fuckers.

Sebastian looked up to find both of them on their bed and saw how Jeff rolled up on top of Nick and started whispering things that Sebastian really didn’t wanted to hear. Fast as lightning, he got up and declared that he was going out, grabbed the keys, which he had thrown on the TV table in front of the bed, and then slammed the door shut behind him. He was out. He leaned against the door, sighing to himself. Now he had to stay away for at least an hour before his goddamn friends were done fucking, those arse-hats. Sure, two years ago he would probably have done the same, but _Christ_ , all he wanted was to sleep. That wasn’t going to happen though Sebastian told himself, and he pushed off the door and started walking down the corridor to the elevator.

The hotel had a restaurant on the bottom floor, where they were going to get breakfast in the morning, Sebastian had made sure of that when he booked a room for them, and he faintly remembered reading that they had a bar that was open till late at night. Not that Sebastian was going to drink, the last thing he needed was a hangover, but he was going to see if they served coffee there, or else he was just going to take a soda. Anything to kill some time.

He was walking down the corridor when a door suddenly flew up, filling the air with a chatter of voices.

“I’m going out!” he heard Kurt shout, and sure enough a second later he saw the man himself rushing out of the room before he got an answer, slamming the door shut and then leaning against it, sighing, just like Sebastian had done only minutes before. He wasn’t wearing his uniform anymore; in fact, it was only Kurt and no one else who was leaning against the door. But he wasn’t wearing the usual designer clothes either. Instead, he just had a pair of jeans, still skin tight though, and a red hoodie that was too large for him and had “McKinley High” written in white letters on it. He had a plain, white pair of sneakers on his feet, and his usually perfect hair looked like it just had been pushed back in one swift movement. The whole look was strangely hot.

“I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you in _normal_ clothes,” Sebastian said, making Kurt jump and notice for the first time that he wasn’t alone in the corridor.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Kurt snapped, looking like Sebastian’s mere presence offended him.

“At the moment, I’m talking to you, but I gather that wasn’t what you asked for,” he said, walking towards Kurt.

Kurt just glared at him.

“I got a room just down the hall, together with Jeff and Nick,” Sebastian explained, jerking his head in the right direction.

“You gotta be kidding me.”

“You really think I would go through all the crap necessary to just casually happen to be here when you decided to burst out of your hotel room, just to catch you wearing a hoodie?”

Kurt looked down at his clothes, and his cheeks were turning red. Sebastian found the whole thing oddly cute.

“Yes, well, these are my convention clothes, I just go around like this on conventions or in the safety of my home,” Kurt told him, and Sebastian pictured Kurt walking around like that in a home, casually holding a coffee-cup in his hand and sitting down in front of the television, putting on a movie or something.

Oh, that’s right, _coffee_.

The exhaustion that had been momentarily forgotten by Kurt’s sudden presence came back with a heavy force, and it felt as if he could fall asleep on the floor if he stood still for another second.

“Well, I’m going to need caffeine if I’m going to stay awake any longer, so I better get going,” he said and started walking to the elevator again.

He didn’t know what to expect, but he _didn’t_ expect Kurt to catch up with him and continue their conversation, that’s for sure.

“Why would you need to stay awake at all?” Kurt asked, as soon as he was walking next to Sebastian.

“Because I don’t fancy falling asleep on the floor, and I need to stay awake for at least an hour before I can get back to my room,” Sebastian said as they reached the elevator, and he pressed the button.

“Why would you have to stay out of your own room?” Kurt asked bewildered.

“Why do you think?” Sebastian just looked at him, and he could see the penny drop in Kurt’s eyes.

“Oh,” was all he said.

“Yeah, ‘oh.’” The elevator arrived then, and Sebastian stepped in, Kurt following him. He pressed the button to the bottom floor and argued with himself for a second if he was going to ask which floor Kurt was going to, before deciding that he could press his own fucking buttons.

“Why are you here then?” Sebastian asked, even though he hadn't intended to.

“The girls are going nuts in there, and I couldn’t stand it anymore and just decided that I needed some change of air.”

“And they just started flipping out over nothing?” Sebastian asked sceptically.

“There might have been a discovery of a little rip in a costume,” Kurt looked up at Sebastian, rolling his eyes. “And of course I couldn’t fix it, _no_ , even though I made the goddamn thing, and the world was coming to an end, and it could most definitely not be solved by a thread and a needle.”

“Sounds absolutely smashing,” Sebastian said, and Kurt just stared at him for a moment before breaking out in laughter.

“You're like the first person _ever_ whom I’ve heard using the word _‘smashing’_ while not cosplaying Britain,” Kurt said, as the doors flew up, and they both stepped out into the lobby, stopping there for some reason.

“Yes, well, there is an explanation to that, actually,” Sebastian said.

“Oh? Care to tell?”

“Care to tell how _you_ ended up in a cosplay outfit?”

Kurt pressed his lips into a thin line for a moment, studying Sebastian like he was trying to make a decision about something.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he finally said. “I know a diner nearby that’s open 24/7 and serves _drinkable_ coffee. I’ll take you there, and you buy me a cup of coffee, and I’ll answer your questions if you’ll answer mine. Honestly, I should add.”

“Well now that I think about it, I’ve only actually lied to you once, when I first met you.”

“How assuring,” Kurt said in a cold voice.

“But seeing that I’ve got nothing better to do, show me the way, your majesty.”

Kurt smiled at the comment oddly enough, and then started walking, leading the way. He hadn’t been lying when he said that it was nearby either, the diner was practically around the corner. In daylight, Sebastian might have passed it as shabby, but it was more or less concealed at night, with only streetlights and the lamps inside lighting it up. It was a typical city diner, with the long service counter, the floor-mounted stools and the booths. There was a young and rather tired woman standing behind the counter as they walked in, and she looked up at them with a blank stare. Apart from her, there was an old lady in the far end of the diner, having some kind of soup.

“A whole pot of coffee and some milk, please,” Sebastian said to her and was given a nod.

“Are you planning to stay up whole night?” Kurt asked as he sat down in one of the booths, Sebastian sliding down opposite him.

“I plan to stay awake. It’s a miracle that I still am really, I’m exhausted.” Sebastian leaned forward over the table, putting his head in his hands with his elbows standing on the table.

“Yeah, conventions do that to you, it’s just over nine PM, and yet you can just drop dead any minute.”

“How are _you_ still awake then?” Sebastian asked, looking up at Kurt. “You should be dead right now, yet you’re more alive than I am.”

“I’m used to conventions. Been to what, five conventions this year alone. You usually manage to develop a system by then.”

“And how does that work? Because the two of us might not be close at all, but even I know that you would _never_ be caught in those clothes normally.”

“Yes, I do let go of my normal habits on conventions, practically living on Japanese sweets, energy boosts and fast food, with the occasional coffee whenever I find a place that can live up to my standards.” Kurt smiled, looking out the window, something that was undoubtedly memories flickering though his mind and Sebastian thought faintly that he would like to hear them. He didn’t ask though because waitress came just then, and both of them looked at her.

She was carrying a tray with a whole coffee pot that came straight out of the machine, a large creamer and two coffee-cups, and she placed it all on the table in silence. She poured coffee in both of their cups and then took a table mat that she had with her and placed the coffee pot on it, before walking away.

Sebastian poured milk into his cup before handing the pot over to Kurt, who did the same, while he took a pack of sugar from the jar with sugar, salt and pepper that stood on every table. He ripped the package open and added it to his coffee, stirring his coffee with the spoon that the waitress had already placed in his cup beforehand. He took a sip then and didn’t even try to stop the sigh of relief that came with it.

“Good?” Kurt asked behind his own cup.

“Heavenly.”

Kurt laughed softly. “Well, that’s good.”

They sat there in comfortable silence for several minutes, just drinking coffee and reloading, before Kurt spoke again.

“Okay, I really want to know, _‘smashing’_?” He raised an eyebrow, eyeing Sebastian skeptically, and Sebastian couldn’t help but to smile at Kurt’s whole demeanour.

“I’m a quarter British,” he said, and Kurt’s expression morphed to utter surprise.

“You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not. My mum’s half French, half British, and dad’s American, which makes me and my sister a quarter British, a quarter French, and half American.”

“Wait, wow, you got a sister? And just because you’re a quarter Brit, it doesn’t mean you talk like them.”

“One question at a time, princess,” Sebastian teased.

“ _Fine_. Smashing?”

“I’ve spent many summers in London with my grandparents, and no matter how hard I try I always come back to the United States with a British accent. Nick and Jeff always find it hilarious, and they make me sit through Harry Potter or Sherlock marathons just because I always speak British afterwards.”

“Oh God, I’d pay to hear that.”

“You can probably arrange something with them if you ask nicely enough.”

Kurt chuckled and looked as if he was actually planning to do just that for a second, before he moved on to another topic of conversation. “Okay, sister?”

Sebastian debated for a moment whether he should answer the question or demand to ask Kurt something himself first. In the end, though, he came to the conclusion that Kurt would be more open to answering Sebastian’s questions in return if he granted Kurt this.

“Yes, I have a little sister; she’s four years younger than me. Her name’s Claire.”

“I wouldn’t take you for an older brother,” Kurt said.

“You’re not the first one. You should have seen Jeff’s face when he first met her. It was the first time he had ever been in my house, and she opened the door, dressed in her nightgown with purple elephants on it. I was just coming the down the stairs when she opened the door and greeted him with ‘What do you want? Make it quick because commercial breaks don't last forever, you know.’”

“Oh God, what did Jeff do?”

“He stuttered that he was there to see me, and Claire immediately thought that he was one of my ‘guys,’ as she likes to call them, and she said so. Jeff countered with that he actually had a boyfriend, which Claire answered with a ‘so?’ And then they finally noticed that I was standing on the stairs, laughing my arse off.”

“She sounds like a wonderful counterpart to you,” Kurt said lightly.

“She is. And she’s having the time of her life mocking me for being here.”

“I can imagine.”

“My turn then. How did Kurt Hummel end up exactly in a grey wig with a little bird on it?”

“It’s platinum blond.”

“Doesn’t seem to change the fact that you had a bird on your head though.” Sebastian smirked a little, and the corner of Kurt's mouth turned upwards, like he was trying to suppress a smile.

“Well, I got into NYADA after some fuss,” Kurt began. “And I was given this roommate named Jake. He turned out to be really nice, and he had a girlfriend, Felicity, who was going to a college nearby, studying economics. She was always around, so I got to know her too. She liked to read manga, and she told me about certain stories sometimes, but it never really interested me to be honest. The concept of reading backwards just seemed like idiotic, why would I want to read something that was more difficult to actually read? And if her summaries were anything to go by, it either sounded really messed up or just _bad_ to be honest. But then I made friends with a girl from class, Olivia, and she shared Feli’s passion for manga. They bonded over it and started to make each other even more obsessed. Feli also had two friends from her school, Kimberly and Ann that is, and all six of us started to hang out. Then I think it was Olivia who found _Hetalia_ somewhere, and she showed it of course to Feli who _made_ us all watch it. We’ve all been forced to watch some anime before, but I don’t know, _Hetalia_ was different in so many ways. And every episode is just five minutes, and you don’t even have to watch them chronologically, and you can watch them on YouTube, so yeah, I watched, I laughed, I got stuck. And of course _Hetalia_ was portal to the world of manga and anime, like a freaking gateway drug.” Kurt smiled a little and took a sip from his coffee.

“That still doesn’t explain why you started cosplaying though,” Sebastian remarked.

“Yeah, well, I love to act and sing, as you might have figured out, and playing characters that you love, doesn’t matter if they from _Hetalia_ or _Wicked_ , it’s just such an experience. You really get as close as you possibly can be because for the moment you're _them_ , and it’s just mind blowing really,” Kurt laughed a little. “But the official version is that we started going to conventions and got completely blown away by the cosplayers. Ann and I just went over the moon really, and Kimberly found all these different cosplayers on YouTube and divantart and tumblr, which she showed us of course, and the whole idea of cosplaying just grew, more and more. So we decided that we were going to try it because it seemed fun, and yeah, look where it got us.” Kurt shrugged and smiled softly, looking Sebastian in the eye.

“What did Blaine say about about it all?” Sebastian asked, and everything open and easy about Kurt was slammed shut in the blink of an eye, as the smile dropped and he looked away. Sebastian immediately wanted to take his question back, but he couldn't of course.

“He didn’t say anything. Or, well, he doesn’t know, so how could he?”

“Oh,” was all Sebastian had to say, his mind going completely blank.

Kurt bit his lip, clearly uncomfortable and seemingly at a loss of words too. He looked hesitant, and Sebastian guessed that he was debating about telling Sebastian just _why_ Blaine was not aware of his new hobby. And Sebastian wanted to know. _God_ , he wanted to know more than he ever should, but he didn’t want it like this. He wanted to hear it from Kurt when Kurt was willing to tell him. Therefore, there was only one thing left to say...

“Don’t you have anything else you’re dying to know about me then?” He smirked at Kurt again, almost seductively, and he was relieved to see the other man relaxing in front of him.

“Well, now that you ask,” Kurt looked back at him again, a matching smirk to his own across Kurt’s face, “I’d like to know what happened to _you_ after you graduated from Dalton.”

“You would, wouldn’t you?” Kurt gave him an irritated look because of his inability to answer right away, and Sebastian's smirk just widened. “I went to Harvard after graduation actually.”

“Harvard?” Kurt sounded surprised and looked both appalled and impressed all at once.

“ _Yes_ , Harvard College. I’m going to be a lawyer.”

For some reason, it felt odd and rather embarrassing to tell Kurt that he was a student at Harvard. He knew he really shouldn’t feel this way –– it was _Harvard_ , one of the most prestigious schools in the country, yet Sebastian dreaded Kurt’s judgement. Instead of meeting Kurt’s eye, he refilled his cup, which was empty anyway, before finally looking up. He was about to ask if Kurt wanted a refill too, but Kurt's eyes were unreadable and somewhat calculating, which made Sebastian pause.

“What?” he snapped.

“Nothing,” Kurt said, shaking his head, but they both knew that it was a lie.

“Just spit it out,” Sebastian demanded.

“I just thought it would be so typical for you to go to a school like that.”

“What are you insinuating?”

“That whole ‘I can’t stand the smell of public school’, ‘my father’s the state attorney’ thing that just makes me realize that I should have seen that coming.”

“But you didn’t?”

“I don’t know!” Kurt snapped.

Sebastian sighed and leaned back, studying Kurt. “Let me guess then. You thought that I was more or less forced to attend to a school like Harvard and select a prestigious profession, like a lawyer or a doctor, and continue the tradition of having a highly paid job and be a snob till the end of time, yes?”

Kurt opened his mouth, undoubtedly to protest, but the look on his face had already told Sebastian that he had been right.

“Well you’re wrong,” he said before Kurt got the chance to defend himself. “My parents don’t care what I do with my life, as long as I’m happy, and it’s legal. This is their discreet way of saying that they won’t approve of me becoming a drug-dealer, a whore or some Don Vito Corleone.”

“But if you can do anything you want, why do you want to be a lawyer?”

“Because I _can_. If I got the privilege to have parents that can pay for any school I want, I’d be stupid to waste an opportunity.”

“But why lawyer then?”

“Well, maybe I enjoy proving that I’m right on a regular basis and shove it in people’s faces.”

Kurt laughed at that, and the tense air around them melted, as Sebastian smiled too.

“Yes, well that sounds more like it,” Kurt said with laughter still in his voice.

Their conversation ran smoothly after that, and it was only the realization that they had drunk a whole pot of coffee that made both of them wonder just how long they had been sitting there. Sebastian didn’t look at the time though, fearing the late hour and what it meant. He paid for the coffee, just like he said he would, and then the two of them started to head back to the hotel, still talking. It was still dark outside, much to Sebastian’s relief.

“But what are the odds that we would get rooms not only in the same hotel, but on the same _floor_?” Kurt said, as they stepped into the elevator.

“Ending up in the same hotel isn’t that surprising really; I mean it’s a damn good hotel, great location and so on. But the same floor, well it was just meant to be, wasn’t it?” Sebastian said jokingly, smiling.

“Oh yes, definitely,” Kurt agreed sarcastically.

“By the way, could you tell your friends that I’m gay?” Sebastian said, and it must have seemed out of the blue by the way Kurt was looking at him.

“Sure... Why?”

“Because that girl, er, Kimberly, she kept staring at me like she _wanted_ to hit on me but was too shy to even try.”

Kurt laughed, and it was such a wonderful laugh, his whole face lit up, and Sebastian felt his stomach drop. “Do girls flirt with you often?” Kurt asked.

“More than I ever want to endure,” Sebastian admitted.

“Why didn’t you just tell her yourself?”

“Well, turning someone down requires them actually talking to you. I think I heard Kimberly talk _once_ or something.”

Kurt chuckled. “Well, that’s the advantage of being a flamboyant gay: you’re almost never mistaken for a straight guy.”

“Almost?”

“Yes, well, before I came out, my friend Mercedes actually thought that we were dating when we hung out, even though we watched _Sound of Music_ and so on.”

Sebastian couldn’t help laughing out loud, trying to picture Kurt’s face when that proud black girl he remembered asking Kurt if they were dating.

“And I kind of panicked when then she said that, and I didn’t know what to do, so I told her I was interested in Rachel of all people,” Kurt continued.

“ _Rachel_.”

“Yes, don’t judge me, I was fifteen and insecure. And nowadays girls still flirt with me because I’m cosplaying. My sexual orientation doesn’t seem to matter then.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I most certainly do not. You can check out the comments on YouTube and deviantart –– some are really alarming.”

“Don’t mind if I do then,” Sebastian smirked.

The doors to the elevator opened, and Kurt and Sebastian stepped out on their floor. Suddenly, the whole light-hearted atmosphere was gone, and they walked in tense silence toward Kurt’s room.

“So,” Kurt said, turning around when they reached his door. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” He looked like hadn’t meant it to come out as a question.

“I guess so. If we don’t meet at breakfast, I’m pretty sure Jeff and Nick are going to drag me to your show.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, well, see you.”

“I guess.” Kurt gave Sebastian one last scrutinising look before turning around, opening the door and going inside without a backward glance.

Sebastian sighed and headed to his own room. Once inside, he thought he shouldn’t turn the light on because Nick and Jeff could be sleeping, but when he opened the door he found that it was already turned on. His eyes went to the bed where Jeff and Nick lay, their arms crossed and facial expressions stern.

“Do you even _know_ what time it is?” Nick snapped at him.

“I’m sorry, _Mother_.”

“Oh no, don’t you mother me,” Nick protested.

“You kind of are the mother, though, because Jeff just topped you, and that makes him the father.”

Nick flushed, while Jeff looked rather pleased with himself.

“But for your information, the only thing I drank was coffee to stay awake while you were making children.” And with that Sebastian went into the bathroom before one of them could protest once again.

* * *

*True story, dearest Sebastian Michaelis (as that is his full name) went against Usui Takumi 2011 in the final and won. Although personally I wouldn't care too much _who_ won, I love them both :P If you want a reference, just search for “Sexiest Man in Anime 2011” on youtube and you'll find it sooner or later (because I'm too lazy to do it for you...)

**From _Bleach_

***GerIta is the ship name for GermanyxItaly/Northern Italy

****and Spamano is the ship name for SpainxRomano/Southern Italy


	2. Day Two: Bad Touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so the last two chapters have been sitting alone on my harddrive for quite some time now because they are not COMPLETELY beta-read yet, but I finally just said "fuck it" - so, comrades, I present to you: the last two chapters of The Kingdom of Awesomeness :D

“Come on, Bas, _wake up_!”

Something hit his head (he suspected it to be a pillow), and he groaned, rolling over onto his stomach to avoid another pillow attack from the god-awful monstrous creature that was trying to ~~kill~~ get him out of his cozysoftohsoinviting bed. But the monster was having none of it, and Sebastian’s blanket was yanked away from him, the cold air hitting his body.

“Fuck off,” he muttered into his pillow. One of those gigantic swords that anime dudes seem to produce out of thin air would be quite handy right about now, he thought dully.

“Seriously, dude, you need to get up,” Nick said. “We have to be there when they open for breakfast, so we can avoid the crowd.”

Breakfast, Sebastian thought. There was something important about that, something to remember –– a reason compelling enough to get up. Last night came back in a sudden rush, and Sebastian’s eyes flew up, as he sat up in one fast movement. Kurt. Their conversation and him buying Kurt coffee. Holy fuck, Kurt in skinny jeans and a red hoodie.

Nick didn’t even get the chance to say “Finally!” before Sebastian interrupted him with a demand to know that time it was.

“Ten to seven,” Nick informed him.

“Why didn’t you wake me earlier?” Sebastian snapped, standing up and trying to locate some of his clothes.

“I did try, you arsehole, but you wouldn’t even move.”

Sebastian groaned loudly and found a pair of jeans that looked somewhat decent and a simple green t-shirt.

“Okay, you’re ready?” Sebastian asked while pulling on his shoes in the hallway, just as Jeff came out of the bathroom.

“God, you’re really hungry or something, huh?” he asked.

“Something like that,” Sebastian said quietly.

They were soon out of the hotel room and on their way to the elevator. Sebastian felt anxious for some reason, and he couldn’t help looking at the door to Kurt’s hotel room. Just a quick glance, and there was really nothing special about it. He shook his head, trying to get those silly ideas that were starting to grow in his mind out of there. Too bad his stupid brain wouldn’t cooperate, filled with things that he still wanted to ask Kurt... Like why Kurt hadn’t told anyone of their first encounter, and he _was_ very curious about what really happened between Kurt and Blaine. He knew that he couldn’t ask Nick and Jeff about it, for several reasons. First of all, it would seem like he was _interested_ in Kurt if he asked, which he _wasn’t_ , of course not. Secondly, Sebastian doubted that his friends knew anything at all about Kurt and Blaine’s relationship because they hadn’t even been close to Blaine during his time as a Warbler, and certainly not after he transferred to Kurt's school. That was partly the reason why they were friends with Sebastian –– they didn’t really worship the ground Blaine walked on, like Trent did for example. They liked Blaine, but they had been capable of giving Sebastian a fair chance to become friends after all the shit he did, when the rest of the Warblers hated his guts more or less.

When they reached the dining hall, it was already open, and Nick and Jeff started to look for a table while Sebastian headed directly to the coffee machine. He needed caffeine, and his friends knew that if he didn’t get it soon he was going to be more of a pain in the arse than he usually was. The line to the coffee machine was long as hell though, and Sebastian groaned out loud. The queue didn’t seem to move _at all_ either, and curses were running through Sebastian’s mind at the speed of light. The only thing stopping him from saying them was the thought that he might be kicked out of restaurant.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a countdown behind him, followed by a upbeat song that he recognized in an instant, even though he only heard it once before. He turned around to find Kurt standing behind him, looking like he was still sleeping. His hair was a complete mess, his bangs falling into his eyes, and while he did have the same hoodie that he had worn last night (oh God, they had a _last night_ ), the skin-tight jeans were replaced by a pair of baggy sweatpants. But Kurt did, in fact, look dead to the world, what with his eyes closed, and he didn’t make a single move to answer his phone. Instead, he let it sing its song, which sounded kind of cute but not really.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Sebastian asked as a way to start a conversation, and Kurt opened his eyes wide and stared at Sebastian for a second, as if he couldn’t believe that he was there.

“No,” he said after a moment. “It’s just one of the girls being a total bitch and teasing me while I’m down.”

“Know the feeling,” Sebastian said. The line _did_ get a move-on just then, and Sebastian had to turn around because coffee was his first priority, above all things right now. However, Kurt came up to stand next to him for some reason, making it possible for them to continue their conversation, but he didn’t say anything. Usually, Sebastian would have waited for Kurt to speak again, seeing how he spoke last, and since Kurt was the one who made it possible for them to keep on talking, but the only thing he heard from Kurt was his ringtone. But that stopped too after a moment, leaving them in silence, and Sebastian couldn’t hold it any longer.

“So we did meet again at breakfast,” he said, glancing at Kurt who had closed his eyes once more, looking like he was falling asleep.

“Yeah...” he said tiredly. But then he seemed to pull himself together and opened his eyes again, looking back at Sebastian.

“It’s amazing, I never thought I’d find someone who’s more dead to the world in the morning than I am, but it seems like you take the cake,” Sebastian said, and Kurt gave him a tiny smile.

“Well, I _did_ drink half a pot of coffee before going to bed, which kept me awake for longer than it ever should.”

“No one made you do it.”

“Never said it either.”

After a few minutes of silence between them, they finally reached the coffee machine and made a cup of blissful coffee for themselves. As soon as he had poured the right amount of sugar and milk into it, Sebastian drank, ignoring how hot it was or how bad it tasted because it was _coffee_.

“Oh God yes please,” he heard Kurt mutter, and he glanced over to find the other man holding his own cup in both hands like its contents were the most precious thing in the world. And well, Sebastian could relate. He saw Kurt taking the cup to his mouth, slowly sipping the steaming liquid with his eyes closed. It might have just been his imagination, but he could practically _see_ Kurt becoming more awake after just one sip: his posture straightening, his face less sleepy, and when he finally opened his eyes, it looked like they were going to stay open for the rest of the day.

“Good morning,” Sebastian greeted, and Kurt smiled. A real smile this time, not a sleepy excuse of an empty grimace.

“Good morning,” Kurt answered. “Where do you sit?”

“Haven’t gotten the foggiest clue,” Sebastian admitted and started to walk toward tables. Kurt laughed for some reason as he walked next to him, and Sebastian glared. “What?” he snapped.

“ _Foggiest_?” Kurt repeated. “I mean seriously?”

“I’m tired, so excuse me for not being the all-time American-Texas-superhero citizen.”

Kurt’s smile just seemed to widen at the words. “Don’t take it so harsh. It’s kind of nice to hear you sneak British into a conversation.”

“Was that a compliment?” Sebastian asked with a smirk, and Kurt blushed, looking away. God, he looked cute when he blushed. Wait, what?

“There they are!” someone shouted, and the voice was kind of familiar, so Sebastian looked over to find the source. His eyes landed on Olivia waving at both of them. Nick and Jeff were there too, together with Kurt’s girls, and they were all sitting at a long table with a comfortable sofa on one side and four chairs on the other.

“Oh God,” Kurt groaned beside him, and Sebastian silently agreed. They started to walk toward the table where the others sat because running and hiding was not an option after they had been spotted. Jeff sat on the sofa next to Olivia who instead of the long light brown hair had black curly hair pulled into a messy ponytail, and her eyes weren’t green, but soft brown instead. On the other side of her sat Ann who had dark blond hair now, shorter than the last time he saw her, but the same blue eyes as the day before though. Kimberly, who sat next to her, had the same hair as the day before, but less wild, and her eyes were blue too, instead of green. Nick was the only one who sat on a chair, on the opposite side of his boyfriend, leaving three seats in a row open for Sebastian and Kurt to choose from. As they walked, Sebastian tried to figure out which seat would be the best pick. He was going to end up next to Kurt no matter which seat he took, even with a chair between them. So did he want to sit between Nick and Kurt, or just have Kurt at his side? The good thing with taking the seat next to Nick would be having both of his friends close to him, but that may also be his death sentence if the two of them felt cocky, and he _would_ end up opposite Olivia. Not that Olivia wasn’t nice, she was surprisingly sweet for a girl who talked so much, Sebastian thought, but he wasn’t sure if he had the energy yet not to snap if she ever crossed the border and began getting on his nerves. But if he would let Kurt sit next to Nick, he would just have Kurt next to him, which meant that Kurt would be somewhat a barrier between him and his friends. Which could be good, but could also be equally terrible. And he would be on the opposite side of Ann, who sat in between both Olivia and Kimberly, leaving him in the mercy of those three girls and _Kurt_. The third chair at the other end of the table wasn’t even an option, since it would look utterly ridiculous, and he would be right in front of _Kimberly_. And God, what if Kurt chose to sit right next to him and not Nick, Sebastian wouldn’t know whatto do with himself. So in the end, he decided that the chair next to Nick was the safest bet after all.

“We were discussing whether you two would bump into each other at the coffee machine,” Olivia said once they reached the table, and Sebastian placed his coffeecup next to Nick’s seat. “Seems like you did,” Olivia continued.

“Obviously,” Kurt deadpanned, as he took the place right next to Sebastian.

“You two can watch the table while the rest of us go and get some breakfast, right?” Ann said, standing up and getting Kimberly to do the same so she could get out of her seat.

“Yeah, because you went ahead and got coffee as soon as we stepped into the restaurant,” Olivia said.

Sebastian looked at Nick and Jeff, who had yet to breathe a word about the whole thing, and the two boyfriends looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Sebastian. He immediately knew that they were going too.

“Just don’t kill each other,” Nick said quietly to Sebastian and Kurt, but Olivia who was still there overheard, and she seemed to find it extremely funny. Sebastian wondered for a moment how _anything_ could be funny at seven in morning.

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” she said in a fond voice, and Sebastian really wanted to know what she was on about, but he turned to see Kurt glaring at her in a way that would make Sebastian himself hesitate. Okay, now he really wanted to know. Nick and Jeff also looked confused by the whole thing, but Olivia seemed to get Kurt’s glare of doom and promptly shut up.

“Yeah,” Jeff said and got up, and he, Nick and Olivia walked away, leaving Kurt and Sebastian alone. Not that it was unusual for the duo to leave Sebastian in a sticky and awkward situation all by his lonesome. Some friends they were...

“At least we can get a refill when they get back,” Sebastian said, finally sitting down next to Kurt. It was odd, sitting down next to him now that there were no one there, except for the two of them. But he wouldn’t sit somewhere else; after all, he had already claimed his seat. Besides, if nothing else, last night _had_ proved that they could have a more or less decent conversation with each other, at least when there was coffee involved.

“Mein Gott, yes,” Kurt sighed.

“Are you sure you don’t have your uniform under that hoodie?” Sebastian asked with a grin.

“What?”

“ _Mein Gott_.”

“You’re just getting back for ‘smashing’ and ‘foggiest,’ aren’t you.” It wasn’t even a question.

“I sure am,” Sebastian confirmed, and they both chuckled for some reason. Sebastian blamed it on their tiredness.

“‘Mein Gott’ means ‘My God’, like ‘oh my god,’ and it's the title of one of Prussia’s character songs. And yeah, when you’re a Hetalian, you kind of start using their expressions all the time. And it’s definitely not just Prussia. I swear I say ‘Veee*’ and ‘PASTAAAA*’ more than I ever should. And I call people ‘potato bastard*’ far too much.”

“You can’t be serious...”

“I _am_.” Kurt sighed, but then cracked up into a smile. “It’s not that I’m easily influenced, it’s more that _Hetalia_ is so goddamn addicting. And I am Italy after all, so it’s totally legit for me to use the Italy brothers expressions in my everyday life.”

“I thought you were Prussia,” Sebastian said confused.

“Well, I’m cosplaying Prussia at the moment, but I don’t possess all of his characteristics really; I’m just acting out as him. I identify myself with Southern and Northern Italy the most.”

“You speak as if it’s two different countries.”

“It’s the same country, but it’s divided, so that there’s one character for the north and one for the south, because northern and southern Italians _are_ rather different. North Italy is _Hetalia’s_ main character, and he’s the one that’s called Italy, and the South is called Romano. But Romano calls his brother Veneziano.”

It was oddly interesting when Kurt talked about the peculiarities of that crazy world that he and Jeff shared. And he was far better at explaining, so Sebastian could actually follow him a lot easier than Jeff, which perhaps made Sebastian more willing to listen.

Nick and Jeff came back right then, as if they really believed that he and Kurt couldn’t be left alone with each other.

“Wow, you guys must be really tired since you’re not even mumbling insults to each other,” Jeff said.

“Why would they insult each other?” Ann asked, who had appeared out of nowhere. Jeff opened his mouth to start explain just _why_ Kurt and Sebastian usually insulted one another, but both of the boys in question glared at Jeff, silently threatening him into silence. It must have looked somewhat strange to Nick and Jeff to see Sebastian and Kurt team up, judging by their confused faces, so Sebastian turned to look at Kurt once he was certain Jeff wasn’t going to say anything.

“It doesn’t matter how much you go around in boy-clothes, they still can’t hide your gay face,” Sebastian said to Kurt, and he heard Ann gasp and saw at the corner of his eye Jeff tense up from where he was sitting.

“Well, you still smell like Craigslist,” Kurt shot back, and for some reason Sebastian had to bite his inner cheek to stop himself from laughing.

“Right,” he said, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice as much as possible, and he succeeded rather well. “I’m going to get some breakfast,” he then declared and stood up.

“What an excellent comeback,” Kurt said sarcastically, but also stood up himself, and side by side they walked away from the table with their empty coffee cups in hand. Once they were out of sight and out of earshot, Sebastian couldn’t hold it any longer and finally let himself laugh. Kurt looked startled for a moment before he too broke out in a soft laughter. People around the duo gave them looks of mostly irritation, and after a moment Sebastian pulled himself together because he could definitely understand the ones who would like to kill him and Kurt for being so loud at this hour.

The boys actually went side by side, as they took whatever stroke their fancy in the breakfast buffet and refilled their cups before going back to the table. As they walked back, Sebastian glanced at Kurt’s plate to find it full of fruit and other stuff that could be filed under ‘healthy’.

“I thought you said you solemnly lived on sweets and energy drinks during conventions,” Sebastian commented. Kurt looked down at his plate and then at Sebastian, shrugging.

“ _During_ the convent, yes, but I won’t turn down a healthy meal if I’m offered one. I still have standards, you know.”

“Are still snobby, more like it.”

“And you’re trying to say you’re not?”

“Have you tried living on English food for an entire summer? Because I have. _Several_ times. You learn rather quickly not to look at what you’re eating and force your stomach to take it.”

Kurt stopped and stared at him, and Sebastian turned around to snap, “ _What_?!”

“Nothing,” Kurt chuckled.

“It’s not nothing, you’re giving me that ‘you just said something that I can relate to my crazy anime’ look.”

Now Kurt was outright laughing. “ _‘You just said something that I can relate to my crazy anime look’_? Oh my God.” He shook his head and started walking again, still grinning.

“Yes, well, you look like that, and it’s not my fault,” Sebastian insisted.

“It kind of is though, because it was you who said it.”

“How am I supposed to know what’s going on in that fucked up brain of yours?”

“Oh God, now you're randomly giving me GerIta-feels.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Just shut your mouth, Sebastian. You’re better off that way.”

Normally, Sebastian would have done just the opposite of what Kurt said, just to spite him. But this was not even _close_ to anything related to normal, so Sebastian decided that he would just trust Kurt on this.

When they got back to table, everyone else was already there, and the conversation stopped just as they sat down. There was a moment of awkward silence, but Sebastian wouldn’t be the one to break it, since he didn’t really care about what was happening around him right then, and he sipped on his coffee.

“How do you four really know each other?” Olivia asked, looking at the four guys at the table. “Kurt didn’t tell us too much about it, and I’m rather curious.”

“Well, Kurt went to school with me and Jeff for a while,” Nick started explaining.

“We were in a glee club together, until Kurt transferred back to his old school sometime after Christmas,” Jeff continued.

“But what about you?” Ann asked, looking at Sebastian.

He looked at Kurt for a moment, trying to decide what he was going to say. He was met by a raised eyebrow, like a challenge. He thought what the hell, and then turned to the girls with a smirk.

“I met Kurt for the first time in a coffee shop, which I was later accused of living in, and I was shamelessly flirting with Kurt’s boyfriend. The pursuit of said boyfriend went more or less to hell unfortunately, when I accidentally blinded him with a super-slushie that was initially meant for Kurt himself, and the boyfriend was hospitalized. He’s fine though, and I _did_ apologize.”

“Don’t forget that you photoshopped my brother’s face onto a naked man in high heels and blackmailed my best friend, threatening to publish the picture and about a hundred just like it on the Internet if she didn’t drop out of the final competition between our two glee clubs,” Kurt said.

“Yeah, that too, but I didn’t actually photoshop them myself, and it wasn’t directly meant towards you.”

Kurt’s girls looked like they couldn’t believe their ears; Nick and Jeff looked ill and ashamed, and Sebastian was still in his ‘what the hell’ mood and didn’t give a fuck about what anyone thought about him at the moment. He was used to people thinking nothing but bad things about him, and he had survived without people liking him for years.

“You’re a real bad ass, aren’t you?” Olivia asked, sounding excited, and Kurt choked on his coffee.

“He’s actually really sweet if you prove that you can stand him long enough to become his friend, or if you’re his sister,” Nick said, and Sebastian discreetly stomped on his foot making him yelp in pain.

“What did you say? I didn’t catch it,” Sebastian said.

“You’re an arse,” Nick snapped, and Sebastian felt smug.

He was left alone then to watch and listen to the others around him during the rest of the meal. Olivia was the most talkative one, no surprise here, but she seemed to be quick-witted as well. Ann was giving him glances every now and then, like she expected him to pull a slushie out of nowhere and blind them all. Kimberly, on other hand, didn’t look at him at all, like he would kill her if she did. Jeff was still chatty, despite the hour and the still somewhat tense atmosphere, and Nick was like always great at playing along with anything Jeff was doing. Kurt was rather quiet too, only talking when he was directly addressed, which was odd since the Kurt Sebastian remembered had something to say about _everything_. Everyone ate quickly though, and they were soon going back to their rooms.

“Wait, we’re on the same floor?” Nick asked out loud, as they stepped into the elevator together, and Ann pressed the button.

“We are?” Ann turned around and looked at them in disbelief, and Kurt and Sebastian shared a look for a moment, both of them grinning quietly. Only Olivia next to Sebastian seemed to notice the whole exchange, as the others started talking about the odds of them not only being the same hotel, but on the same floor, just like he and Kurt had done not even 24 hours before in the same elevator.

“Should we perhaps go to the convention together, seeing that we’re almost bound to bump into each other again?” Jeff suddenly asked, and Nick looked at Sebastian, like he was expecting him to protest. Sebastian had long ago accepted that he had absolutely no say in whatever went down during these three days, and he gave Nick a shrug, like he couldn’t care less about the proposition. He did care though, very much indeed. Because if the proposal went through, it would mean spending an entire day with Kurt Hummel as ‘The Most Awesome’ Prussia and his equally freaky friends. He’d never admit it, but the idea didn’t seem as terrible as it would have done yesterday. Maybe it was because of the fact that he and Kurt had drank coffee together, avoiding their respective friends and having a pleasant time in each other’s company surprisingly enough. And he still had questions for Kurt that had been forgotten or overlooked last night. Questions like why Kurt hadn’t told anyone about his and Sebastian’s very first encounter, and what really happened between him and Blaine. But those were the things that he could only ask when they were alone, and not in a elevator with five pairs of listening ears and watching eyes.

“Well, if you’re willing to wait for us, then sure,” Kurt said, interrupting Sebastian’s thoughts. “Because we’re four people with _one_ bathroom, and we all have costumes that we have to get into.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll just bugger off somewhere and wait while Nick and Jeff have a quick fuck,” Sebastian said, earning glares and startled looks from everyone. But he didn’t bulge, he never did after making such a comment, and his friends were at least used to it, even though they hated it when he was like this.

Nick opened his mouth, to make an excuse on Sebastian’s behalf most likely, but Olivia interrupted him by giggling. “I don’t suppose I can make you stay and record the whole thing for me?” she asked Sebastian.

“You don’t want to see it, _believe me_. They’re clumsy and boring, and they _stink_ at talking dirty. The only ones who would ever enjoy their sex are themselves. But if you want some _quality_ gay porn, I’m sure I can find something to send your way.” Nick and Jeff looked ready to kill him, but the doors to the elevator opened just then, and they were forced to step out.

Kurt surprised Sebastian, and probably Nick and Jeff too, by more or less saving Sebastian from their undoubtedly angry response. “Or you can just buy some hardcore yaoi* and doujinshi* when we get back to the convent,” Kurt said, giving Olivia a wink.

“Oh, yes, that too.” Olivia got an dreamy look in her eyes, and Kurt chuckled, the two of them sharing a joke Sebastian didn’t get. But he felt like he was rather thankful that he didn’t, for some reason.

“So we’ll meet out here in the corridor again?” Ann asked, seeming anxious to get an answer.

“If you guys are fine with it,” Jeff said. “What’s the time now anyway?” he asked out loud and reached for his phone.

“A quarter to eight,” Kurt answered, looking at his own phone. “Give us till nine sharp, and we’ll be ready.”

“ _Nine?_ ” Kimberly exclaimed, speaking for the first time since yesterday as far as Sebastian had heard. “Then we better get going now, you know how it looks in there.” She gave Kurt a meaning look, and he looked right back at her.

“I wouldn’t perhaps have done that if you had let me _help_ and work my magic like I do,” Kurt shot back.

“Well, if you hadn’t gotten back from a little walk until _very_ late at night, it might have reduced some of the mess.” Sebastian had never seen Kimberly talk so much in such a short period of time, and even though the conversation between her and Kurt _sounded_ polite, it was everything but.

“Okay, this won’t get us anywhere,” Ann interrupted the two. “See you later,” she said to Nick and Jeff with a smile, although it was a little strained, and then she glanced over Sebastian with a look of dislike. The quartet walked quickly to their room then, only Olivia turning around giving the three guys a quick smile and a wave. They went to their own room right then and got ready, which didn’t take much time because all three guys had long perfected their procrastinating ways of getting up at the last minute and making themselves mighty presentable while rushing around. Nick usually hated it, and so did Sebastian to be perfectly honest, but long nights of partying and fucking had taught him that being fast in the morning could be very helpful indeed, for many reasons...

When he was all dressed and ready for another day of strange conversations and red eyes, he decided that he would just give Claire a call and bug her while waiting on others.

“I’m going out to call Claire, so you two can fuck now,” he said casually on his way out the door.

“Can you stop saying stuff like that?” Jeff snapped, and Sebastian turned to look pointedly at him.

“You’re trying to tell me that you _won’t_?” Jeff hesitated, just for a second, but it was all Sebastian needed to support his argument. “Thought so,” he said smugly before slamming the door shut behind him, effectively letting himself have the last word. Once out in the corridor, he pulled his phone up and called his sister, sending a silent pray that she was still asleep. After a few tunes, which Sebastian took as a good sign, someone answered the phone.

“ _What_ ,” was the snapping greeting, and Sebastian smirked. Fuck yeah.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side,” he sing-sang into the phone.

“Someone is going to be stabbed twenty-four times as soon as I see him.”

“No worries –– if I can survive these three days, I can survive anything.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Claire threatened, and he heard the sound of rustling sheets as she undoubtedly changed position in her bed at home.

“I’m deadly serious. I’ve seen terrible things. I’ve got mental scars!” he proclaimed dramatically.

“Serves you right for waking me up, arsehole. How is it going up there anyway?” She was dying to know, he knew she was, but she was too grumpy and irritated with him at the moment to ask in any other way, but he knew that he had it coming.

“It’s whole bunch of nerds dressing up in costumes that drag-queens would envy, with wigs neon colours, carrying fake frying pans, and teddy bears, and fake weaponry, and everyone talking absolute gibberish. And _apparently_ some demon-butler from some comic has taken my name, so the one time I was actually introduced to some people they freaked out because of it.”

“Oh God, I’d _pay_ to see that!” Claire was laughing on the other end, and Sebastian was smiling despite it all, looking at Kurt’s door down the hall for some reason.

“I’d gladly trade places with you.” He thought for a moment about telling Claire about Kurt. She knew who Kurt was because she had been the first one he had actually told the whole story from start to finish about everything he had done, intended and ever thought to do with New Directions and Dave Karofsky. So yes, she knew who Kurt Hummel, _the_ Kurt Hummel, was. But he ended up restraining himself from even mentioning him, without even saying that it was _him_ , mostly because he really didn’t want to. Telling her about Kurt would mean that there was something to tell, and something to tell other than complaint or dirty gossip when it came to Kurt Hummel was something that Sebastian wasn’t up to. Because no, he really didn’t fancy standing in a corridor where said Kurt Hummel, or any of his friends, or any of _Sebastian’s_ friends, could overhear him trying to give his sister a decent picture of just how amazing Kurt looked in a military uniform and a grey wig, or how seeing the man in just a pair of regular jeans and a hoodie did strange things to Sebastian. No. That was definitely not something he wanted to be caught saying. And furthermore, informing Claire of Kurt Hummel and his shenanigans meant that he actually had to _say it_. Like he had to admit, even if it was to Claire, that Kurt there, he was spending time with him, actually enjoying it, and Kurt’s presence did have an effect on him. And he’d rather not mention that. To anyone. Ever.

So instead, he gave Claire a overlook over everything that was happening, without really telling her anything because most things he had registered involved Kurt. They talked for a little while longer after that, before Claire told him to not be too much of a jerk and to say hello to Nick and Jeff from her before saying that she was going back to sleep.

“Yes, well, I hope you get nightmares,” Sebastian said.

“Love you too, bye.” Sebastian could practically hear Claire roll her eyes.

“Bye,” Sebastian said with chuckle and then hung up. It was half past eight now, and Sebastian didn’t know if he should go back to the room just yet because Nick and Jeff might be having sex, just to spite him, and he thought for a moment about going down to the restaurant just to kill some time. But before he could even move from his spot in the middle on the corridor, Kurt’s door opened. For a moment, he thought that it would be Kurt coming out, but then he saw the green dress and the brown hair that was apparently a wig, and he released a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.

“Hi, Sebastian!” Olivia shouted loudly before turning around to smirk at someone inside her room and then shoving the door shut.

“Hello, Hungary.”

Olivia giggled at his response and walked to him. “What are you doing out here?” she asked.

“I was just talking to my sis, and now I’m asking myself if it’s safe to go in there again or not.” He nodded toward his door further down the hall.

“You mean they’re actually having sex?”

“Might as well, those two fuck like rabbits.”

Olivia chuckled beside him, and Sebastian found himself smiling softly. Despite her loudness, Olivia was a pleasant company and apparently the only one, beside Kurt, who seemed to be able to smile at him at the moment. And it was always nice to find someone to talk about sex shamelessly while others got awkward around them, and Olivia seemed to be just the girl for that.

They stood quietly next to each other for a moment, before Olivia’s expression suddenly turned serious, and she seemed to be in deep thought, fumbling with the fabric of her dress for a moment before speaking up.

“Look,” she said. “I’m not really supposed to say anything, but I think there are some things you need to know, about you.” Sebastian raised an eyebrow, not really sure at all what to expect, but nodded for her to go on. “So that thing you said down at breakfast? Yeah, I thought it was kind of funny, and Kurt didn’t seem too bothered about it, but Ann and Kimberly didn’t like it at all. So we had a little argument about you, among other things. But what I really want to say, or rather ask you, is do you have anything against Kurt right now?”

Sebastian was a little taken back by the question, but now that he thought about it, it seemed rather obvious. “No I don’t,” he said. “Those things I did happened three years ago, and I’ve moved on since then, and I think so has Kurt. I can’t tell if he’s forgiven me for all I did, but I can assure you that I’m not planning anything new at least because I’ve got absolutely nothing to gain from it, and I don’t hold any grudge toward him or anything.” Sebastian shrugged, not knowing what else to say, but Olivia smiled at him softly, and he decided he’d said just enough.

The door that Olivia had come from was suddenly swung open, and a Prussian Kurt stepped out.

“Have you seen my gloves?” he asked in a rush, only half outside, like he didn’t want to be seen until he was fully ready himself. Kurt didn’t have his bird on his head yet, but his eyes were red, and he had that ~~grey~~ ‘platinum blond’ wig on, together with the rest of his outfit.

“I’ll come and help you look for them,” Olivia offered and walked to him. At that moment, Sebastian noticed that she had her phone in her hand, the screen lit up as if she was doing something, although he didn’t recall seeing her using it during their short conversation. But he pushed the thought away, thinking that it wasn’t anything important anyway, and looked at Kurt to find the other man looking back at him with unreadable eyes. He didn’t say anything though, just shut the door as soon as Olivia was inside. Sebastian thought this would be a good time as any to go back to his own room, the corridor suddenly being too quiet even for him. When he opened the door, he saw that neither Jeff nor Nick were decent, just like they had been when he left them. He smirked knowingly because, of course, he had been right, even though none of friends would ever admit it.

“What?” Jeff snapped at him, as he walked toward the bathroom, leaving a molested Nick on the bed, and Sebastian’s smirk widened.

“I didn’t say anything,” he said.

“Your face said enough,” Nick mumbled on the bed, but Sebastian ignored it and dumped down next to him, not caring that the bed smelled of sex or the angry glare Nick was giving him.

“You should get a move on, the cosplayers are more decent that you two are,” he said. Nick got up, mumbling something dark that Sebastian didn't catch.

It was soon nine o’clock when Sebastian finally got up from the bed and walked outside, Nick and Jeff following him, and he saw Ann stepping out of the room down the corridor, her friends following after. They were all in their costumes now, Kimberly coming out last and locking their door.

“Right-o, we’re all ready,” Ann said with a smile, a real one, and he was surprised when she looked at him. They must have really talked about him in there judging by Ann’s change of heart, Sebastian thought. Not that he was about to complain though. They started walking to the convention then, Sebastian ending up in the back once more, with Kurt next to him, surprisingly enough. Kurt didn’t say anything though, just looked at Sebastian from time to time like he was trying to figure something out.

The convention itself was just as crowded, loud and sweaty. He didn’t understand how Kurt and his friends could breath in their costumes, when Sebastian himself just had pair of jeans and a t-shirt and was still longing for air. And Kurt had black leather gloves today that he hadn’t had yesterday. Sebastian thought about commenting on it, but decided against it, since it would imply that he actually noticed in the first place.

They were wandering around for a while, Sebastian silently registering everything around him and basically following whoever was leading him somewhere, mostly Kurt actually. The other man was somewhat tall and easy to spot, at least Sebastian thought so, and he seemed to know where he was going, unlike Jeff who was going _everywhere_ and Nick who was trying to follow him. Sure, he could keep his eyes on Olivia or Ann, but in the privacy of his mind he silently admitted that he preferred looking at Kurt.

A hour or so passed, before someone actually spoke to him.

“You look a little hot,” Olivia said, and Sebastian couldn’t help but to smirk about the half innuendo. Kurt rolled his eyes from where he stood next to Olivia.

“Just a little? Sure you’re not mean super hot?”

Olivia giggled madly while Kurt looked annoyed. “That wasn’t what I meant,” she said through her giggles, and Sebastian winked at her.

“But what I wonder is how you survive in those costumes of yours,” he said, looking at Olivia’s long dress that looked like a fur coat in hell.

“Becoz ve’re awesome,” Kurt said with a smirk of his own, and Sebastian just knew that he had gotten into Prussia-mode. “Or I’m awesome at least, you’re probably sveating like a pig, aren’t you, Hungary?” he drawled, and Olivia turned to him with an angry look.

“Shut up, bastard,” she said loudly and took a swing at him with her frying pan, and Sebastian guessed that the two of them were acting out their characters, and he decided to just watch.

“Kesesese~ you sving like girl,” Prussia teased, which only seemed to make Hungary even more angry.

“I am a girl!” she said and tried to hit him again, only to be blocked by Prussia who was still smirking.

“You didn’t alvays zhink so,” he said, and it seemed to make Hungary flip out, as she was shouting out something that sounded almost like a declaration of war, but before they could even begin to beat each other up, Prussia had bent down and aimed toward her stomach. With a swift motion, Hungary was lifted off her feet, Prussia throwing her over his shoulder and holding her there while she screamed and fought to get free.

“Mon dieu, v’at are you doing?” Ann came behind Sebastian and asked, the others finally noticing the others little play.

“I’m invading some vital regions,” Prussia said proudly, nodding to himself and giving France a wink.

“Stop for now though, we’re going over to the tables with wigs and all that, you can take her later,” Kimberly said a Spanish accent that reminded Sebastian of that Latino American whom he slushied all those years ago. The memory made him smile, funnily enough, the look on her face had been cracktastic.

“I vas zhinking ve could go over and get some pocky first, I’m dying for some.”

“What’s that?” Sebastian found himself asking despite himself, and he felt like slapping himself when the wide red eyes turned to him. Apparently it had been the wrong thing to say.

“You don’t knou vhat pocky ist?” he demanded to know, and Sebastian merely shook his head, trying not to offend him. Hungary, who had gone quiet on Prussia’s shoulder, was dropped down onto her feet, and the red eyed man was reaching for him, taking Sebastian’s hand in his gloved one and starting to pull him away before Sebastian got a chance to even react. “Ve’ll see you later,” Prussia said and then he was dragging Sebastian into the crowd with a surprisingly strong force. Sebastian had just enough time to turn around and see his friends’ shocked faces and Olivia waving at them with her frying pan before he was swallowed by the crowd, and he couldn’t see them anymore. He turned to look at Kurt then, from the black leather-clad hand that was holding his, to the arm that Sebastian suspected to be slim but strong underneath the blue material, and to the little bit of bare skin of the neck that Sebastian could see between the black collar of the shirt and the white hair. Finally, his gaze landed on the outlines of Kurt’s face. Yes, he thought that it was Kurt now again, as they were more or less walking, Kurt leading him forward by the hand rather than forcefully pulling him like before.

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit overdramatic?” he asked, and Kurt finally turned to look at him, stopping in his tracks.

He looked at Sebastian with a raised eyebrow, like he was challenging him to question him again, but then his face softened and he smiled, not apologetic. “You caught me at the worst possible time I believe, so you got only yourself to blame.”

“No, I’m going to blame you,” Sebastian said seriously, but then allowed a little smile onto his face. “So are you going to show me what all this fuss is about or not?”

Kurt blinked, but then seemed to find himself again, and he smiled too. “This way, American,” he said and turned to walk once more, causally forgetting to let go of Sebastian’s hand, and Sebastian found himself not really caring too much about it.

“We’re already been over that, I’m not pure-blooded American, remember?” he said instead, still walking a little behind Kurt.

“Oh I remember. It’s forever imprinted into my brain that you can stomach scones.”

“Scones aren’t bad,” Sebastian said somewhat baffled, and Kurt laughed for some reason.

“I know they aren’t,” he said and turned to smile at Bas. “But it’s a _Hetalia_ thing.”

“Of course,” Sebastian deadpanned.

“Anyway, here we are.” Kurt stopped all the sudden in front of a table that seemed to only sell one thing. Sebastian scanned the table, but saw nothing, except for the same-sized packages in different colours, with what seemed to be thin bread sticks dipped in something, like chocolate or some other kind of liquid that had solidified.

“You can’t be serious,” was all he said.

“When are you going to learn that I never joke about something as important as pocky?” Kurt let go of Sebastian then and went to the table. He bought enough packages that he needed a _bag_ , which he was given by the salesman –– it was pink. “So which flavour do you feel like having?” Kurt asked looking down at the bag, but Sebastian looked skeptically at him. Kurt must have sensed his stare, as he looked up, ready to defend himself. “It’s like crack, okay? And I’d rather be addicted to this than all that other shit out there. I hate being high.”

If anything, Sebastian was most struck by the fact that Kurt Hummel had just admitted that he had been high once (maybe even more than once), rather than by a purchased pink bag of sweets that he consumed like crack.

“I don’t understand what’s so special about it anyway,” he said instead, picking up a random package and eyeing it. It was yellow.

Kurt smiled at him, looking down at the package in Sebastian's hand and then back up at him. “That’s banana-flavoured,” he said. “Open it, I’ll make you eat some of it anyway.”

“Sounds like a threat.”

“Could be,” Kurt said in his German accent, and Sebastian couldn’t help but to chuckle at his attempt to look intimidating.

“Fine,” he said and opened the package in his hand, then the plastic bag inside of it, fishing out one of the bread sticks. He looked at it and the yellow dragé before glancing back at Kurt and taking a bite. It didn’t taste like much actually. “It doesn’t seem so special to me,” he said.

“Oh you wait,” Kurt said with a evil smirk, but it broke into a smile. “I know it doesn’t, but the thing is, you _do_ get addicted to them after a while.” Kurt reached forward, took about five breadsticks and started eating them all at once. Sebastian guessed that it was a Prussian thing to do. “You can keep that one,” Kurt said and started moving again in what seemed like a random direction.

Sebastian thought for a moment if now was a good time to ask Kurt about why their first meeting had stayed between them. They were alone, or at least people weren’t paying too much attention to them, and although someone might pop out of nowhere and exclaim that Kurt was a most awesome Prussia, they would most likely not follow Kurt and Sebastian’s conversation. But before he had even made a decision, Kurt stopped dead in his tracks, watching something before them, eyes wide open. Sebastian followed his stare to see what had made the other stop.

Just as he looked, it was like he also started hearing, taking in the sounds around him that he had somehow learnt to block out.

In front of them was a tall man in dark jeans and a grey t-shirt, screaming at a woman. He had a firm grip around one of her arms, holding her in place while she desperately tried to break free. “Damn it, you stupid bitch!” he shouted in a rough voice. “Don’t you ever dare to wander off like that again, you hear me?!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” the woman sobbed in a small voice, blearily heard over the sounds around them.

Then everything happened so fast that Sebastian almost missed it. The man held his free hand up, undoubtedly to hit her, and Kurt was pushing the pink bag he was holding into Sebastian’s chest, then leaping forward and stopping the man from hitting the woman with a hand of his own. Sebastian was dumbfound, holding on to the bag for dear life and watching everything progress in front of him. The man and woman also seemed surprised by Kurt’s actions, the man’s face changing from anger to confusion and the woman freezing.

“You should never resort to violence, no matter how angry you are,” Kurt said, his voice clear and low; such a contrast to the man’s shouts and woman’s sobs. Sebastian couldn’t see Kurt’s face, but he could see the man’s, which was turning red.

“Back off, you filthy faggot,” he snapped dangerously, but Kurt didn’t move an inch, even though the other man was taller and more intimidating than him.

“I think it’s _you_ who should back off,” Kurt said, just a lowly as before.

“Please, just ––” the woman said, but the man was having none of it.

“Shut up!” he screamed at her and tried to hit her again, but Kurt was still holding one of his hands, and he ended up letting go of his grip around her arm to slap her. Fortunately, Kurt was fast, pushing the woman behind him before the man could reach her. Sebastian finally seemed to come to life then, moving the bag he was holding into one hand and reaching out to pull the woman away by the other, realizing that he couldn’t let the man get to her again, that he would somehow let Kurt down if he allowed it to happen.

“It’s fine,” he said, trying to sound reassuring to the woman who was looking at him with frightened eyes. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

That seemed to hit a sour spot, and the woman immediately started to sob even more intensive than before. Without really thinking, Sebastian embraced her, feeling in his gut that it was the right thing to do.

“Why can’t you just mind your own business, freak?” the man growled at Kurt, and Sebastian looked up to find the two men standing apart, Kurt must have pushed the man away.

“It stopped being your personal business when you were about to hit another person,” Kurt answered, and the man lunged forward, at Kurt this time. Sebastian could feel himself reacting, his whole being longing to switch places with Kurt, not wanting the other to get hurt, but the woman was stopping him, and he was left helplessly watching.

The man tried to hit Kurt with his right hand, and Kurt avoided the punch amazingly enough, grabbing a hold of the outstretched arm and bending it over. Sebastian knew from experience how much that position hurt like hell, and the man gave out a pained cry as Kurt twisted his arm.

“What’s going on here?” a strict voice said, and Sebastian turned to find a man and a woman stepping out of the little audience that surrounded the scene. Both of them wore similar black t-shirts that said ‘STAFF,’ so Sebastian could only assume that they worked at the convention.

The man that Kurt was holding opened his mouth, but Sebastian spoke before him, his inner lawyer making an appearance.

“My friend and I were just walking when we suddenly saw this man,” he gestured toward the man who was still in Kurt’s grip, “shouting at this woman. He was just about to hit her when my friend stopped him.”

“Is this true?” the staff-woman asked, directing her question at the woman in Sebastian’s arms who seemed completely unable to answer _anything_ at the moment. Sebastian was just about to say that, when a random girl with long red hair and glasses from the people around them stepped forward.

“It’s true, I saw the whole thing,” she said, another girl behind her nodding. “That guy was shouting at that girl and dragging her around by her arm, and then Prussia stopped him from punching her,” the girl continued, and Sebastian distractedly thought that Kurt was named Prussia again.

“We’ll be escorting you out then,” the man from the staff said and took a hold of the man’s arm. It was only then that Kurt finally let go and stepped back.

The staff woman turned to Sebastian again, opening her mouth, but Sebastian beat her to it.

“I can take the responsibility for her and call someone for her,” he said, and the staff member looked at him for a moment before nodding and giving him a ‘thank you,’ then going to help her colleague with the man who was starting to fight back. As soon as they were gone, Sebastian looked down at the woman who was still sobbing.

“Hey, love, are you okay?” he asked softly, and she just shook her head into his chest. He started to rub her back with one of hands, trying to assure her that she was safe. “He’s gone now, it’s fine. Do you have a name, love?”

The answer came out in a quiet and cracked voice, but he heard her all the same. “Diana,” she said.

“Okay, Diana, I’m Sebastian, and this here is Kurt. Do you have someone I can call for you? A friend or family or something? Because you shouldn’t be alone right now.”

Diana nodded and reached with a shaky hand to the pocket in her jeans and pulled up a phone. “Lizzy,” was all she said, as she handed the phone to Sebastian who unlocked it and went through the contacts until he found the given name. He called ‘Lizzy’ who answered after two tones.

“Hi, Diana! Where are you ––”

“Excuse me, hi,” Sebastian said, effectively getting the woman on the phone to shut it. “My name is Sebastian, and I’m calling on Diana’s behalf – ”

“Did something happen? Is she okay?”

“Yes, she’s fine right now, but she needs you to meet her.”

“Tell her to come to pocky-stand,” Kurt said, and Sebastian flashed him a grateful smile before doing just that.

“Okay, I’ll be there in like five minutes!” Lizzy said. “Thank you so much and tell Diana I’m on my way!” She hang up, and Sebastian sighed before handing the phone back to Diana.

“She’s on her way,” he informed her. “Can you walk to the meeting place?”

Diana nodded, and Sebastian let her go then, feeling suddenly awkward about hugging a complete stranger. He looked over to Kurt to find the other man studying him in a way that Sebastian wasn’t comfortable with at all. They started walking in silence to the table where he and Kurt had been just 10 minutes or so before. They stood there waiting, Diana finally getting her sobs under control and Kurt looking at Sebastian every now and then, but never saying something.

After a while a girl came running toward them shouting “Diana!” and Sebastian could only guess that it was Lizzy.

“What happened to Greg?” Lizzy asked, and Diana tensed.

“He was about to hit her, and I stopped him, and the staff came and escorted him out,” Kurt said, and Lizzy turned pale.

“That _fucker_ ,” she said angrily. “I’m so sorry, Diana, are you okay?” She hugged her friend before she could get an answer and then turned to Kurt and Sebastian. “Was it you who called?” she asked Kurt.

“No, it was him,” Kurt said, nodding toward Sebastian, and Lizzy looked at him with a bright, thankful smile.

“Thank you so much,” she said. “Both of you. I’ve got her now.”

“It’s fine,” Sebastian assured. “You’ll be alright, love?” he asked Diana, who looked up at him, nodded and mumbled a quiet ‘thank you’ to both of them. The two women started walking away then, Lizzy throwing an arm over Diana and rubbing her arms, and Kurt and Sebastian watched them in silence.

“Does stuff like that happen often?” Sebastian asked after a while, still looking around at the people surrounding them.

“More often than you’d think,” Kurt said. “But I’ve never witnessed it myself up until now.”

“Oh,” was all Sebastian could think to say. Silence fell once more, but Sebastian felt Kurt’s eyes on him. “Have something to share?” he drawled, tired of all the staring for today.

Kurt frowned, but then sighed and looked down at the floor. “It’s just, the way you acted with that girl, I guess I was kind of surprised,” he admitted.

“If there’s one of us who is full of surprises, that’d be you,” Sebastian said, and Kurt looked up again, a small blush appearing on his cheeks. “I certainly didn’t expect you to take on a man twice your size and then overpower him.” Now Kurt was definitely blushing, and Sebastian found that he liked it. “But about that girl, I guess that if it had been my sister I would have wanted someone to take care of her if I wasn’t there.” Sebastian shrugged. “So if I want that for her, then shouldn’t I do the same for others?”

“I guess,” Kurt said slowly. “Anyway, we have to get back to the others, ‘cause we need to get ready for the skit we’re having soon.” They started walking again, and Kurt didn’t drag him around this time, they just walked beside each other.

“What is that thing anyway?” Sebastian asked.

“It’s a skit completion between various cosplayer groups, to see who can portray their characters better and wrote the best manuscript and such, ” Kurt explained. “You’re allowed to sing and such, or even to have a recording that you play all the way and you just act out, but it's best to have both a skit and a musical number. At least I think so,” he added.

Kurt’s phone started to ring just then, and he pulled it up. He then turned the screen to Sebastian, who saw what he thought was Ann’s face in a turquoise wig with two long ponytails. “Can you answer for me? I got gloves on,” Kurt asked, and Sebastian did as he was told. Kurt smiled at little at him before answering “Hello” into the phone. He stood quietly and listened, and Sebastian stood next to him, watching his facial expressions as he nodded to himself. “Yeah, roger, see you in a bit,” Kurt said and then turned the phone to Sebastian again, so he could end the call for him. “We’re gonna meet up with them by the other building,” Kurt explained and then lightly put a hand on Sebastian's arm and turned him toward the exit. It was an innocent move, and it probably didn’t mean anything, but Sebastian felt his stomach drop at the touch, and he tensed up. Kurt must have noticed it, since he quickly snatched his hand away, and Sebastian saw a faint blush on his cheeks. But he didn’t say anything at all about it, not sure what could be said. They reached the others soon enough and were met with smiles.

“Thank God you’re here now. Ann has been freaking out that you wouldn’t make it in time,” Olivia said, as she greeted Kurt with a hug. When she pulled away, she looked at Sebastian for a second, before hugging him too. It was the second time today –– within an hour –– that he had close physical contact with a woman, and he was not excised about it. Nick and Jeff stood and smirked at him, as he patted Olivia awkwardly on the back. As soon as she let him go, he flipped the two-finger salute* at his so called friends who broke out in laughter.

Kurt was talking to Kimberly about something, the pink bag with pocky if Sebastian had to guess, but he saw from the corner of his eye how Kurt was watching his every move. It made him feel far more self-conscious than he ever wished to be, and he tried his best to ignore it with a smirk.

After a while, Kurt and the others went backstage to set up stuff and get ready. They were just out of sight, when Nick and Jeff turned to him, attacking him with questions.

“What were you two up to? You were gone forever,” Jeff started.

“Yes, and he _took your hand_ , and you didn’t even protest, what was that?” Nick continued.

“Is something going on between you?”

“What's ‘ _going on_ ’ is that you two are being complete douchbags and trying to make things into something they’re _not_ ,” Sebastian snapped at them. “What’s wrong with you?”

“You’ve just been acting kind of strange,” Nick said as an excuse, but Sebastian wasn’t having any of it.

“You’re saying there's a ‘normal’ here somewhere?”

“Look, we’re not trying to make things difficult or whatever, it’s just that while you were gone we talked to Kurt’s friends, and they told us how he had been acting kind of odd too, and well you can’t blame us for trying to put two and two together,” Jeff said.

Sebastian sighed, not really wanting to have this conversation, but knowing that he must. “I just wasn’t expecting to meet _anyone_ I knew here, let alone him,” he tried to explain. “And these people are crazy, so I don’t know what to do when some girl hugs me or a guy drags me along to some place, and I just go with it.”

“You do it rather awkwardly though, like a refrigerator trying to dance its way through the crowd,” Jeff offered, and Sebastian shook his head at his friends’ odd humour, but smiling nevertheless.

He was about to retort, but the doors to the auditorium opened just then, and the three guys went inside to find some good seats. Funnily enough, they found three seats in the middle of the third row, almost the exact spot they had been seated yesterday.

Sebastian wasn’t so sure of what to expect; in fact, he didn’t even know how long it was going to take, since Kurt hadn’t even told him that. What did happen was that in about ten minutes after they were let inside did a woman from the staff walk up onto the stage. She presented herself as Ayuzawa Misaki*, and she wore a maid-dress and had black hair. She bowed at the audience and told them that she was going to be their host. A guy walked onto the stage soon, and the maid seemed to know him, and the audience went wild for some reason. The guy had caramel-blond hair and was clad in a simple button-down shirt, a red tie and beige trousers.

The competition began soon after the two of them were done talking about things that Sebastian didn’t follow, but which were apparently funny and awesome since people around him were laughing and throwing catcalls at the two. Skit after skit came and went, the two host always coming up on the stage in between to present the next group and talk while some people got ready for their performances.

After about half an hour Sebastian finally heard a name that he recognized. “And the next group is a assemble of countries, please give it up for _Porcelain Cosplay_!” the maid said, and both Nick and Jeff started hooting while Sebastian simply clapped.

The curtain went up, and Sebastian saw Kurt –– or well _Prussia_ , walking around the stage, turning his head in every direction, bowing down and looking under imaginary furniture for something.

“ _Gilbird!_ ” he shouted, _loudly_ , into the microphone in his hand. As expected, he had that German accent now again. But something that Sebastian didn’t expect was his voice sounding so _raw_. Like he screamed for hours and was hoarse, his voice was low like that of a singer in a heavy metal band. Sebastian’s breath caught in his throat, and Kurt –– _Prussia_ , twirled around, looking after his yellow chick who wasn’t on his head like he should. “Gilie!” Prussia called again, beginning to look desperate as he ran from one spot to another and back again. “Vhere ze heck is dat bird?!” he asked out loud, looking over the audience, but not at anyone in particular.

“Vest!” he shouted, turning to look up at the right back corner of the stage. “ _Vest_! Have you seen my bird?!” There was no answer, and Prussia groaned, walking to the corner of the stage, looking up as if he were looking up at a staircase to the room above. “Vest!” he called one final time before sighing loudly, his shoulders dropping, and he dragged himself to the middle of the stage. “He must be vith Italy, getting mad over somezhing...” he said to himself, and the crowd went wild, hooting at the comment, but Prussia acted like he didn’t notice it at all. “You zhink dat after all ze times he’d woken up vith Ita-chan by his side zhey vould actually fuck after a vhile. But _no_ , he has to be difficult. Dummkopf.” He shook his head, as the crowd screamed.

Prussia sighed loudly once again, before his face seemed to light up a little, like he got an idea. “Ich weiß! France might have seen Gilbird,” he said, for the first time sounding positive, and then he opened his jacket and pulled out a phone. He looked like he dialled a number, and after a few seconds the sound of France national anthem filled the auditorium. Ann walked out on the stage then, or _France_ did, but he didn’t look at Prussia, and neither did Prussia seem to notice France.

“Bonjour,” France greeted.

“Frenchi!” Prussia exclaimed, and the audience laughed while France pulled a face.

“'Ello Prussia, v’at makes you call moi z’is fine day, hm?”

“Have you seen my bird? I can’t findt him and I’ve searched _everyvhere_ for him.” Prussia spun around once more, as to take a final look while France gasped, a horrified expression dawning on his face.

“V’at do you mean ‘you can’t find ‘im’? ‘Ave you checked vith Germany?”

“He’s not here dat bastard, I called him like a million times but I zhink he’s vith Italy.”

“Mais bien sur, v’at else can you expect from a country z’at smash ‘is potatoes,” France said with a shrug as if that explained it all.

“Hey!” Prussia shouted into the phone angrily. “I’m German too, arsehole!”

“Alright, alright, mon Dieu, it’s not like I accused you to cook like Britain.” The audience laughed, and Sebastian himself smiled, thinking back at his and Kurt’s earlier conversation.

“Yeah, vell I’m still looking for Gilbird...” Prussia got back to the original conversation.

“I’ll look for your little chick, I’ll send out Pierre!” France promised. “Call around a little if you don’t find him, maybe Spain or Austria ‘as seen him or somez’ing.”

“I vill, danke.”

“Any time, chèrie.”

They hung up then, and Prussia stood still and quiet while France made a fuss about pulling something out of his pocket. The something turned out to be a white bird, similar to the yellow one. “Pierre, find Gilbird,” France ordered the little chick in his hand and then he threw him to the side and off the stage shouting “ _Go!_ ” before following and exiting the stage.

Prussia started to move then again, calling another number. The sound of a tango started to play, and Kimberly entered the stage, from the opposite side that France had entered the stage.

“Hola! Spain here!” Spain said in a Latino accent, sounding happy and trouble free.

“Oi, Spain! Gilbird is missing!” Prussia cut to the chase.

“ _What?!_ ” Spain exclaimed, looking around as if he thought he would find him. “Don’t worry mi amigo, I’ll find him!” he shouted before running off the stage, saying something about Turkey.

Prussia looked at the spot he had been. “Idiot,” he deadpanned, and Sebastian chuckled. “Vell, I can alvays go and bozher dat snob Austria,” Prussia mused out loud. “Might find Gilbird already zhere, varming him up for me.”

Prussia walked around the stage for a bit, before he stopped at the right side of the stage and knocked on a imaginary door.

Silence. Prussia frowned and knocked again.

After knocking for a third time, Prussia seemed to be fed up.

“Hey! Are you too much of a snobbish aristocrat to even open your ovn goddamned door?! Hey Austria! I’m talking to you!”

He looked like he was about to kick down the door, stepping back and then running forward, ready to jump and kick. But before he even made it, someone entered the stage, opening the invisible door.

“Hí Pruzsíja, vat do jú want?” Hungary asked, in what Sebastian too a wild guess was a Hungarian accent.

“Eh –– Hungary.” Prussia stopped dead in his tracks, looking like he hit a wall. “Vhat are you doing here?”

“I lív here, idiót,” Hungary snapped.

“Vhy vould vant you live vith such a cheap jerk as Austria?” Prussia demanded, seeming almost offended.

Hungary sighed, flipping the pan in her hand in a anxious gesture. “Jú knov I couldn’t do much else back szen.”

The mood had switched from the light-hearted humour to being grave and tense enough to cut the atmosphere with a knife. There was clearly a big elephant hovering above those two, as they acted like lost lovers or something.

Sebastian mentally went through every history lesson he’d had before remembering _yes_ , the Austrian-Hungarian Empire that once was, dissolved in the early in the 20th century. So that was what they were on about.

“Anyvay, vat do jú vant? And if it’s to annoy Austria zsen get out of ‘ere,” Hungary snapped, clearly feeling uncomfortable.

“Nien, not today. I vas going to ask if if he had seen Gilbird, ‘cause I can’t find him.”

“Oh, I’m zorry but I ‘aven’t seen ‘im. And I don’t zsink Austria haz eizher, he’z been plajíng zse piano all morning.”

“Vhatever,” Prussia said, turning around to walk away.

“Vait!” Hungary said and stepped forward, before taking a quick step back again as if she hadn’t intended to call after him at all. Prussia turned, looking surprised, but said nothing. “Do –– do jú vánt me to go and fetzh Austria for jú?”

“Since vhen did you become his housekeeper?” Prussia asked sharply, and it really seemed to strike a core in Hungary who looked like she was about to attack him with her pan. “But no, you don’t have to tell him anyzhing, I’ll just keep looking for mein birdt.”

“Okai. Vell I ‘ope jú find ‘im,” Hungary said, and Prussia turned once more, as Hungary walked back inside.

Prussia walked around in a circle before sitting down on the floor in the middle of the stage, looking out over crowd as if he was looking at the sky above. He sighed loudly. “To have Gilbird or not to have Gilbird, dat ist ze question,” he said melancholy.

“Ey, ami, don’t pull such a long face,” France said softly, walking onto the stage.

“Sí, it doesn’t look good on you,” Spain agreed as he came in on the other end, and they both sat down on either site of Prussia. “So no successes then?”

“Nein.”

The three of them sat next to each other, stared above the horizon, and drew a collective sigh all together.

“I knov!” France suddenly exclaimed, standing up and smiling brightly at the bitter Prussia by his feet. “Zee best possible vay to get rid of z’at sour face vould be to _sing_!”

“Do I look like some prissy-pants, ‘I vill sing about my feelings’, ballerina to you?” Prussia shot back sharply.

“You love to sing, t’ough, amigo,” Spain said, standing up. “I mean your corazón is one screaming of la pasión por la música!”

“Maybe usually,” Prussia said, standing up as well and brushing off his pants. “But I don’t feel like singing, zat’s all. Und zis skit vould be too long if ve did a song anyvay,” he added like an afterthought, and that did make Sebastian grin despite himself as the audience laughed around him.

“T’en ve should continue to explore until ve ‘ave found Gilbird!” Spain exclaimed, sounding far too happy.

“Speaking of exploration,” France said, eyeing Prussia up and down. “‘ov about exploring each other a little, d’accord?”

Prussia just manage to get out a puzzled “Huh?” before France had come up and pressed his chest into Prussia’s back. Sebastian was holding his breath as France reached for Prussia’s crotch. But just as he grabbed it, there was a sound of someone chirping. France froze, and Prussia looked absolutely gobsmacked, while Spain was just observing the whole thing, rather confused.

“Prussia, amigo,” he said gently. “Your crotch chirped.”

Prussia looked down then, slapping away France hand that was still there. “Veird,” he said. And then he did something Sebastian wasn’t at all expecting to _ever_ see. He started to open his trousers, and Sebastian slapped his hand above his mouth, not knowing what to do as he watched _Kurt_ shove down his hand into his fucking pants. He pulled it back out quite quickly though, holding his bloody chick. “Gilbird!” he exclaimed. “Hou da hell did you end up zhere?!”

The bird said nothing, but Prussia didn’t seem to listen anyway, as he placed the bird on his head and pulled up his fly.

“Vell, I guess z’at’s solved z’en,” France said, stepping back and looking rather disappointed, while Prussia gave him a glare.

“Ja,” he said sternly.

“Everyting solved in the end then,” Spain said happily, not seeming to notice the atmosphere.

“Yes.” Prussia turned to Spain and smiled. “Danke, both of you,” he said, looking back at France.

“Eh, wat do you ‘ave amigos for?” Spain asked, throwing an arm around Prussia.

“Oui, you’d do zee same,” France agreed and copied the move.

“Ah, you guys are the best,” Prussia said before pulling them both into a real group hug.

It lasted for only a moment before they all pulled away and went to stand at the front of the stage once more, gazing over the audience with equal grins. And then they sang again. “Ah, a fabulous world, that can be seen with a swipe of a paintbrush! Austria is such an old man! Bad Friends Trio!”

“Are you guys done?” Spain asked.

“Don’t forget it!” Prussia demanded.

“Zis was short, eh?” France asked, looking at friends. Then they all bowed, showing that the skit was over, and Olivia came onto the stage too, going up between Kurt and Kimberly and they all bowed together once again. Sebastian applauded with the rest of the auditorium, and Jeff was hooting next to him to show his appreciation.

The group exited the stage then, and the two hosts came back. But Sebastian wasn’t paying them any attention at all, now that he didn’t need to, and he sat through the rest of the competition looking blankly ahead. The only thing he _did_ catch was the end, when the hosts informed that the winners would be pronounced tomorrow during the big closing ceremony, together with all the other winners of other competitions (seriously, how many things could they compete about?). And then the whole thing was over, and the rush to the exit began. Sebastian and his friends decided that they were gonna take it easy and wait a little until the big wave had passed before going for the exit, and they stayed in their seats for a while.

“Oh, Kurt texted,” Jeff suddenly said, and Sebastian couldn’t help but wonder _why_ they had each others numbers and when the exchange happened. Maybe when they were at school together, but then again, why would any of them hold on to each other’s numbers for three years without any contact? Oh well, that musing was for another time Sebastian decided as Jeff continued to speak. “He said to meet up with us on the outside like before, and that they’re almost there already.”

“We better get going then,” Sebastian said and stood up, pointedly ignoring the look Nick and Jeff shared. Really now, those two were starting to piss Sebastian off big time.

“So what did you think?” Olivia asked them just as they stepped outside the building.

“It was absolutely _awesome_!” Jeff assured. “I’ve watched so many cosplay videos on youtube, and that was one of the best skits I’ve ever seen!”

“It was really, really funny. And I didn’t even understand half of the jokes,” Nick said, smiling brightly at them all.

They all laughed and continued talking, but Sebastian felt Kurt’s eyes on him. It was unnerving, since he just _knew_ that Kurt wanted to ask him what he thought, but instead of just asking to get it all over with Kurt kept quiet. And it might be childish of him, but Sebastian was not going to offer any information willingly. Because then it would look like he was giving Kurt a complement, and he couldn’t have that now, could he?

 

 

The rest of the day came and went with the two groups of ex-Warblers and cosplayers sticking together, even though they seemed to lose track of someone from time to time. They ate lunch together, at a nearby Burger King where Sebastian had gotten the privilege to watch Kurt Hummel eat a hamburger (a rare sight he was told), before going back to convention. Kurt didn’t speak directly to Sebastian during the whole time, and it shouldn’t bother him, _but it did_. But two people could play that game he thought and kept his own mouth just as shut. It wasn’t like he was desperate to have a conversation with Kurt, and if he didn’t care, then why should he start one? That’s what he kept telling himself when he noticed Kurt looking at him, and he looked back with a raised eyebrow in challenge. Kurt didn’t step up though, and Sebastian had already decided that if someone was going to make a move, it was going to be Kurt. He couldn’t care less and would not be bothered, period.

“By the way,” Ann said, making Kurt and Sebastian look away from yet another staring competition between them. “There’s a rave held every night here, and we’re going today. Do you want to join us?”

Nick and Jeff looked at each other before looking at Sebastian, and he could see on their faces that they wanted to go but were gonna make it up to him to decide. Bastards. He sighed at them, mentally punching them in their faces, before he turned back to Ann. “Sure,” he said. “I’m _never_ gonna go to a convention _ever again_ , so why not do it all while I’m here?”

“Great!” she said.

“Never say never,” Olivia commented with a smirk.

Sebastian looked back at Kurt to see his reaction, but his face was unreadable.

They finally separated soon after that, Nick, Jeff and Sebastian being really hungry and deciding to go and buy some dinner while the cosplayers wanted to stay a little longer. They clearly knew some kind of secret that Sebastian didn’t, because _how on earth_ would they otherwise manage to run around with a million of shopping bags and not collapse due to exhaustion while Sebastian had just walked behind them, and _he_ felt like he was dying. It was decided that they were going to meet up in the lobby later and go dancing together.

Nick, Jeff and Sebastian found a pleasant Chinese restaurant a few blocks away from the hotel where they ate, before going back to their room to get ready. Sebastian looked into his bag sceptically. He had not packed for partying, thinking that he was only going to dress comfortably for the three days here. In the end, he settled for the outfit he was currently wearing because, like he argued with himself, he looked hot in everything. And this wasn’t one of his usual outings at a club or a friend’s party anyway, so it didn’t matter all too much what he wore he tried to reason with himself.

Nick had changed into a blue shirt that he had with him for some reason, and Jeff changed into a tighter pair of jeans (not anywhere near Kurt's standards, but still), and they went down to the lobby with five minutes to spare. Kurt and the others weren’t there yet, and they sat down on one of the sofas to wait. They only had to wait for about a minute though, before the doors to the elevator opened, and Sebastian spotted Kurt.

He was himself again, wearing a very simple outfit: black skin-tight jeans, a blue t-shirt, the same cross that he wore as Prussia, and black, fingerless driving gloves. On his head, he had a pair of sunglasses, the kind that didn’t have any glass at all, but the stripes of plastic that you saw through. On the “glasses” was the Italian flag, with its red, white and green stripes. Sebastian had never liked those kind of glasses, had always found them silly and dysfunctional and not to mention ugly. But Kurt rocked them, of course, and Sebastian duly admitted to himself that Kurt looked good. Really good.

“Oh, I see you dressed up for the occasion!” Olivia said with laughter in her voice to Sebastian, as she walked toward him. He looked down at his own clothes as to reflect over them before looking back at her.

“Of course,” he said. “I always have a whole club-outfit with me wherever I go, just in case.”

“Just like Kurt then,” Olivia said, and Kurt made a noncommittal sound behind her.

“I don’t think any of us really packed for going out,” Nick said, looking like he was on a quest to prevent a train wreck. Perhaps he was.

“We didn’t really either; we just brought a nice shirt and hoped to maybe find something at the convention that can be worn, and that’s that,” Olivia said assuringly. “Shall we go then?”

“I assume you know the way?” Jeff asked.

“Of course we do,” Ann said with a wink, and then they were on their way.

It was held in one of the complex of the convention, no surprise there, and it was really just like a big gym with lights in the ceiling sweeping their colours over the crowd under, music blasting through the premises. People were standing along the walls and there was a stage at the other end of the room where the DJ sat, but the whole floor was just a dance floor, full of people.

“You see, most people doesn’t dress up all fancy!” Olivia shouted over the music, and she was right. The normal was either jeans or cosplay outfits, just like inside the convention itself. It was oddly reassuring.

“Come on, Kimie, dance with me,” Kurt said and then practically dragged Kimberly, who looked utterly terrified, onto the dance floor. Her friends laughed at her and Sebastian couldn’t help but to chuckle a little at the fun scene in front of him.

“Will you dance with me?” Olivia asked Sebastian and Jeff laughed behind him. So just to spite him Sebastian smirked and took Olivia’s hand, bowing before her.

“I’d be delighted,” he said and it came out in British for some reason, and then they walked into the crowd.

“It’s too bad you’re gay, or I would seriously try to make you my boyfriend,” Olivia shouted as they danced and Sebastian laughed.

“Yes, well all the best ones are, aren’t they?”

“They sure are.”

They danced for a few songs, Nick and Jeff doing the same just beside them, Kurt and Kimberly nearby and Sebastian spotted Ann with some guy not far away. Sebastian was asked far too many times by girls if he would dance with them, and he always declined because he most certainly _didn’t_. He danced with both Ann and Kimberly though, which was fun. Kimberly was a surprisingly good dancer, and just a few seconds in she stopped blushing and let Sebastian and the music lead her. She and Sebastian were still dancing when Olivia suddenly appeared just as [the song changed](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UExz5SDxQ&feature=related) into one that Sebastian didn’t recognize. Olivia seemed to do so though, as she shouted “ _Disco Pogo!_ ” loudly and dragging Kimberly into a dance that most consisted jumping and fencingwith her arms. Something that could only be German club music filled the air and Sebastian laughed at the two girls, concluding that this was probably one of those _Hetalia_ -things.

He moved away from the two girls who were dancing like it was the last thing they’d ever do, and looked around the crowd for his two boys. Instead he saw Kurt, and he stopped dead in his tracks, just staring at him. Kurt was dancing alone, the glasses that had been on his head were now on his nose, and he had those luminous glowing bands in various colours that Sebastian had seen people have on his arms and around his neck. He even had a few sticks in his hands that left lines after themselves has Kurt moved his hands –– his body –– to the music.

Kurt seemed to see him just then, as he halted in his movement and smiled at Sebastian. “You have to dance now, Sebastian!” he shouted and reached for Sebastian’s hands, pulling him towards himself and tried to make Sebastian dance.

“Why?” Sebastian asked amused.

“Because it’s _Disco Pogo_!” Kurt answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world and Sebastian chose not to question and just go with it. So he danced. With Kurt. To German club music. Kurt’s smile just seemed to widen when he did and then danced with him.

It was odd, because it hadn’t happened when he had danced with any of Kurt’s girls, and maybe it had to do with they were in fact _girls_ , but as soon as the dancing got serious Sebastian found himself taking the lead and spinning Kurt around and pressing his chest against his back. Kurt didn’t seem to mind though, as he pressed back into Sebastian’s chest and swayed his hips to the beat. Sebastian’s hands found his hips and he can feel more than hear Kurt hum the melody of the song.

Suddenly he turns around with a wide grin on his lips, his face closer to Sebastian’s than ever before. For a second, Sebastian couldn’t breathe, feeling Kurt’s breath on his face. But Kurt backed off a little just a second later, and he shouted more than sang the oh so poetic lyrics to the song.

“ _Disco Pogo, dingalingaling, dingalingaling! Alle Azten sing’n! Disco Pogo, dingalingaling, dingalingaling! Alle Azten sing’n!_ ”

Sebastian had to laugh at it all, because it was a _funny_ sight to see, but Kurt didn’t seem to mind as he he mumbled the lyrics and continued dancing in a most appealing way. The lights were flickering to the music, making Kurt look like a creature beyond this earth.

The lights started doing that stop-motion thing where they switched on and off and Sebastian watched in amazement as Kurt moved. He lifted his hands and took one of the many glowing bands around his neck and took it off. Sebastian duly wondered why, but his unspoken question was soon answered as Kurt pulled the pink (of course it had to be _pink_ ) band over Sebastian’s head instead and pulling him close by it. His hands then leaves it there and Sebastian could hear Kurt repeating the lyrics “ _Aztenparty dingaling_ ,” into his ear as he stayed close, his hands running over Sebastian’s back as he pressed into his chest. Sebastian could only return the motion, one hand tightening on his hip while the other moved up his back. He could feel Kurt shiver at the touch, and he felt smug about it, being able to affect Kurt too. The song went into another instrumental part and they danced, closely together moving as one.

The lyrical wonder that was the chorus came again, and he could hear Kurt sing it into his ear before the song came to a sudden stop. It was like a spell lifted from Kurt, who stopped dancing like his life depended on it, and he came down to earth. He pulled away, but not far, as a new song begin to play, similar but yet so different from the one before, and he looked at Sebastian.

Sebastian’s hand moved on it’s own accord from Kurt’s back up to those awful glasses which he lifted up onto Kurt’s head so he could finally see Kurt’s eyes properly. They were almost green, with hints of blue and brown in the colourful light and they looked right back at him. The hand that had moved the glasses travelled down Kurt’s forehead in a feather-light touch, passed the temple before staying by Kurt’s cheek. Kurt’s skin was soft and smooth underneath his fingers and Sebastian was willing to bet his parents house on that neither of them were breathing at the moment.

Suddenly someone dumped into them from the side, making Sebastian lose his balance and he was forced to let go of his hold around Kurt to not fall.

“I’m sorry!” a skinny guy shouted over the music before he run away from Sebastian’s glare of death.

He looked back at Kurt who was blushing furiously, his whole posture awkward and Sebastian could feel himself looking the same when the realization started to sink in about just _what_ the had been so close to.

“I –– I,” Kurt stuttered.

“I need to find Nick and Jeff,” Sebastian said, feeling that he needed to get away from there.

“Yes! And I need to find my girls,” Kurt declared.

“Good.”

“Good.”

It seemed to be their cue, and they both turned around and headed towards opposite directions. But Sebastian wasn’t going to look for his friends, he couldn’t stand seeing them right now. He needed air. And get away from these freaks.

He headed towards the exit, not caring who he knocked over on his way, they were in his way and if people didn’t have the decency to avoid to knock into him he couldn’t have the decency to do it either. In the back of his mind he knew that it was a childish and not at all sustainable argument, but he was filled with all these mixed emotions of fear and thrill and confusion and _lust_ that he just couldn’t hold. He needed to get out.

He pushed the door open with both his hands and he looked around, finding the whole outside rather dead for some reason. He didn’'t muse about it though, and sat down on the stairs leading up to the entrance instead. The sky was dark by now, but he couldn’t see any stars through the city skyline, and he felt almost personally offended by it for some reason.

He looked down at his feet instead, but his gaze landed on the the glowing necklaces, which he still had. He took it off, studying it, the liquid inside and the air bubbled that had leaked into it and he thought of Kurt.

Kurt who had showed up after years of nothing, in a complete cosplay-outfit of all things, who had messed with him but not told anyone about it, and who had had coffee with him by his own initiative. Who had taken his hand and dragged him away or into a dance, whom he had seen blush and smile and smirk and act, who had not once greeted him with the same displeasure that he had shown back in Ohio. And Kurt, who had pulled him close enough to kiss and had looked at him with those amazing eyes.

His stomach clenched when he thought about the position he had been in just minutes ago, and what it would perhaps have lead to if it weren’t for that wanker that had knocked into them. Would he really have wanted for that moment to continue? What would he get out of kissing Kurt? If someone would have asked him about it only two days ago he would have laughed at even the thought of it, thinking back to the flamboyant boy he remembered. But he had been wrong, thinking of Kurt like that, hadn’t he? Or the memory wasn’t enough to cover him anymore at least, since Kurt clearly had developed and changed. But into what? And was it something that Sebastian _wanted_ to know?

Sebastian sighed, shaking his head. He wasn't any closer to finding an answer to all those questions that were circulating in his head, and it seemed that for each minute new ones continued to appear while none of them got answered. He was just about to stand up and go and look for Nick and Jeff for real this time, when the door behind him opened and he turned to see the source of all his troubles walk out.

Kurt stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw Sebastian, and for a moment they just started at each other.

“I –– I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d be out here,” Kurt said. “I’ll go back inside.”

“Don’t,” Sebastian said without even realizing it, but Kurt heard, and he halted in his turn. “Not if you don’t want to, I mean. It’s a free country after all.”

Kurt chuckled and he seemed to lose some of his tension. “Well if you insist,” he said and came up sot sit next to Sebastian. Suddenly his mere presence was overwhelming, his body radiating with heat and his breath so loud and clear even though the city was moving around them. There was a silence, and Sebastian didn’t know how to break it, didn’t know if he _wanted_ to break it. He glanced up and studied Kurt’s profile, the soft and hard lines, the pale skin and pink cheek. Kurt had grown since he last saw him back in Ohio he realized, becoming more mature and well –– _male_ compared to before. It was still him, but there was a difference. It was hot.

Sebastian turned his eyes away, he was not going to think about Kurt like that when the man was _sitting right next to him_ , God knows what he might end up saying. But sitting quietly meant that he was officially alone with his own thoughts. And while that was more or less what he had been looking for when he walked outside, it wasn’t so good now that he wasn’t alone anymore, but instead with the guy that had caused all the trouble. So the best thing to do would be to start a conversation –– but about _what_. He obviously couldn’t speak his mind, and since that was what Sebastian usually did when he talked to people, and not really caring whether it was offensive, flirtatious or actually polite, he was left with the standard conversation tone that he always had on fancy pansy dinner parties and other social gatherings that he had been forced to endure over the years. And he sure wouldn't be using that when talking to Kurt, then he might as well just get up and walk away.

But in the end, he didn’t have to do anything at all, as Kurt made a decision for him. “So I take it you didn’t find Nick and Jeff then?” he asked, startling Sebastian who then pulled himself together.

“I gave up rather quickly and decided to go out and sit a little,” he answered, with wasn’t that far from the truth. “What about you?”

Kurt shifted, almost uncomfortably, and didn't look at Sebastian. “Yeah, something similar,” he said, but a blind could tell that there was more to it. Sebastian didn’t push him though, perhaps because he was so afraid of telling Kurt what was going on in his mind that he didn’t want to force Kurt into doing the same thing.

Suddenly it hit him what he really wanted to talk about, and dashed into it, not taking the time to second guess himself. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, by the way,” he said before he could regret it, and it certainly caught Kurt's attention.

“Oh? Do tell.”

“I was just wondering why you didn’t tell anyone about the first time that you bumped into me, when we were alone.” They had been looking at each other, but Kurt turned away, staring at the ground like he found a passage to Narnia under his feet.

“I don’t really know,” he said so quietly that Sebastian almost missed it. “At the time I just acted out, because it was such a glorious opportunity, and to be fair, your facial expression hilarious, but then I didn’t tell my friends because they didn’t know who you were and I didn’t really feel like explaining to them. And I seriously didn’t think I would see you again after that.”

“Well, as that is perfectly understandable, it still doesn’t explain why you haven’t told them now, or why I was the one to tell them about your wonderful past, although that’s another question, I’ll admit that.”

“Well hello to you too, Mr lawyer,” Kurt said, rolling his eyes and Sebastian couldn’t help but to chuckle at the reaction.

“Pleased to meet you, Queen of Avoiding the Subject.”

“Please,” Kurt drawled. “I’m the Royal Highness of the Kingdom of Awesomeness.”

“Your Awesomeness are still avoiding my questions.”

“You can’t call it a question if you didn’t actually ask.”

“Okay _fine_. Why do no one but you and I know about our first encounter yesterday, _Kurt_?”

Kurt was blushing up again, his face and neck turning into such a delicious shade of red and it made Sebastian bite his lip for some reason.

“I guess it was so surreal to meet you here at all,” Kurt said, looking at the sky, and Sebastian was nailed in place, unable to look away. “And yeah, like you’ve been informed I’m always more or less in character while cosplaying, which caused me to react like I did, and I don’t regret it. Then after walking away it just felt like some dream or imagination, and telling someone about it, even now, feels so strange and almost like telling a secret.”

“Well if no one of us is going to tell anyone about it, it might as well be.”

Kurt looked at him then, his iris dark in the dull light, and far more breathtaking than the starlit sky would have been, and Sebastian felt himself wanting to examine it closer.

“Would it be strange to say that I’d like to share a secret with you? Even a silly one like that.” Kurt’s voice was soft and deep like his eyes and Sebastian’s gaze went to his mouth, which looked so soft and red, like Kurt had been biting on it.

“Not at all,” he whispered, looking back into those eyes before leaning forward. Kurt’s breath hitched in his throat, and it was all he had time to do before Sebastian made their lips meet. It was a quick, soft peek, but during that small period of time Sebastian realized just how kissable Kurt Hummel was. But then he made himself pull back an inch, giving Kurt room get away if he wanted to, half expected him to. But Kurt stayed.

He felt a hand on his cheek, only to realize that it was Kurt’s. He only had time to register that and Kurt’s hot breath hitting his face before Kurt was there again, kissing him back. His eyes fell shut and he moved closer, one of his hands finding Kurt’s waist while the other was pressed against the stairs to keep his balance as Kurt pressed up into his mouth, making him groan. It earned a hot moan from Kurt himself, and he felt the hand on his cheek travelling to his neck before pulling him in.

The door behind them suddenly opened and they both jumped at the sudden sound loud music and broke apart as if they’d committed a crime. The people that walked out though wasn’t people Sebastian knew or recognized, and they didn’t seem to play him and Kurt any attention at all.

Sebastian looked back at Kurt then, who was blushing even more than before, amazingly enough, and looking everywhere but at Sebastian. The whole air around them was filled with awkwardness, and neither of them moved, not sure what to do.

“I –– I have to go,” Kurt suddenly declared was was up and inside the building again before Sebastian even had time to react.

He felt like screaming.

Just _why_ did everything have to be so fucking complicated?

Holy fuck, he just kissed Kurt, he realized. And Kurt had kissed him back. And God knew what would have happened if those people hadn’t decided to open the door right then.

Sebastian groaned, his head falling into his hands, arms resting on his knees. It was then that he became aware of that he still got that pink glowing band in his hand, his only reminder of that what happened with Kurt tonight was real. That and the ghost of Kurt’s lips against his.

 

* * *

 

*Like Kurt said, these are quotes, used by the Italy brothers. In fact, the first word Veneziano _says_ in the anime is the word “PASTAAA~”, and yes, it’s supposed to look like that. “Veee” or “Veee~~~” comes from “Beee” which comes from the actual word “bellissimo” which means lovely/wonderful etc. As for “potato bastard”, it’s Romano’s standard-insult to Germany, who likes potatoes.

**I’m pretty sure you all know what Yaoi is, but if you don’t –– it’s the western name and definition Male/Male stories in manga. If you’re gonna go look for M/M in Japan though, you better use the term “Boy’s Love”, or “BL” in short, or you’ll be misunderstood. But I’m not gonna go into that more now. (If you want to know more, send me a PM and I’ll try to explain –– or google it)

***Doujinshi’s are like fanfiction in manga-form basically. They are produced by fans and sold at conventions in Japan. I’m not so sure about how the market looks for doujinshi looks like in USA, but because this is fanfiction and also a future fic I’m gonna decide that there is a market for it and non-Japanese people are making doujinshis as well. Shhhh...

**** _twofinger salute_ : The British gesture for “fuck you”. Google it.

***** _Ayuzawa Misaki_ : The main character in _Kaichou wa Maid-Sama_ or just _Maid-sama_ which is the translated title. The other guy is the male main character from the same manga/anime –– Usui Takumi


	3. Day Three: Bad Company

One more day. One more day and then he’d be out of here.

Sebastian sighed as he rolled over, turning to face the back of the sofa, trying so hard to fall asleep. But it wasn’t even worth trying anymore, he knew that he wouldn’t get to sleep peacefully tonight, no matter how much he wished for it.

He had gone inside too, soon after Kurt, but he didn’t see the man or any of his friends, and he could only guess that they had gone. When he found Nick and Jeff his theory was confirmed as they asked him if he knew if something had happened since they’d seen Kurt demand that he and his friends had to go mere minutes ago. Sebastian had just shrugged and asked how he should know. They had left soon after that too, because Sebastian was snapping at absolutely everyone who dared to look at him and he could tell his friends were starting to get really worried about him. He knew that they knew that he wasn’t telling the whole story, but they hadn’t asked and he was grateful for it. He wouldn’t been able to take that just then. Hell, he still felt like he’d rather stick needles in his eyes than talk about it, and the lack of sleep that he was getting sure wasn’t helping.

It was getting brighter outside than darker, and Sebastian groaned loudly, because _seriously_. He wouldn’t go up though, because even though he was awake, he was still too tired to leave the bed, even if it only where to go to the loo.

Somewhere around three –– four he guessed that he fell into a restless slumber, as the lines between awake and asleep began to blur, and he couldn’t tell which one he were. It was an awful feeling, because even though you were disconnected from the world of the living, you weren’t getting any rest –– in fact he felt like he was experiencing the life of a computer in standby. He swore to himself that if he ever went through the day that was about to greet him _without_ killing anyone, he would start to turn off his computer.

They were going to go up early today too, of course, and when the alarm on Jeff’s phone went off Sebastian finally opened his eyes, giving into the day ahead of him, knowing that he couldn’t run away from it. He had to get up and face everything, since he wouldn’t be allowed to stay in bed, and because he wasn't going to get some sleep anyway, and he really didn’t see the point in fighting it.

“He’s awake!” Jeff exclaimed as Sebastian sat up, and both Nick and Sebastian groaned loudly at Jeff’s loud voice.

They made their way down to breakfast, and of course they had to bump into Kurt and his friends, which lead to another breakfast together. If Kurt had been dead yesterday, it was nothing compared to how he appeared to be today –– he was goddamn zombie. He stayed mostly silent during the whole time, much like Sebastian himself, even though he noticed how people around him tried to get him to talk while leaving Kurt alone for some reason. But he couldn’t help but to think that the act that Kurt was pulling off was in fact _an act_. Then he looked up at Kurt who was eating an apple successively like a robot and he decided that he was being ridiculous. He was left feeling tired and annoyed with absolutely everything, and still suspicious even though he had decided that it was nothing.

Everyone seemed to eat kicker though, the girls and Jeff because they wanted to get to the convention as quickly as possible, Sebastian because he wanted to get the hell out of there, Nick had always been a fast eater and Kurt, well, he didn’t do much else during the entire meal. Half past eight Sebastian found himself leaving the hotel for his last day at the cursed convention, with Ann walking next to him.

“You seem down,” she commented offhandedly as they walked to short path to the complex.

“No, just tired,” he said.

“Did you stay long after we left?” she asked softly.

“Not very, I just had a hard time falling asleep that’s all.”

“You and Kurt both then. He was tossing and turning all night, driving me completely insane.”

Sebastian pictured it for a moment, Kurt’s hotel room the way he imagined it; two double beds, Kimberly and Olivia in one of them and Kurt and Ann sharing the other. It wasn’t all that hard to imagine Ann’s irritated face as she glared at Kurt across the sheets because he had once again awaken her when he turned to lay on his stomach, his face buried in the large pillow and he was clenching his eyes shut, trying to miserably hard to sleep.

Sebastian pushed to image away, this wasn’t the time or place to think about Kurt Hummel’s sleeping habits. “It seems so,” he replied and then they were there and Sebastian was saved from continuing their conversation.

They spent some time just like ones before; going around and exploring, and by now Sebastian could actually recognize and somewhat knew the layout of the whole complex. They talked to others, lost track of each other and Sebastian stayed glued by Nick’s side the entire time, because Jeff was too hard too whimsical. And while Olivia, Ann and even Kimberly at one point talked to him, Kurt didn’t even look at him. Or at least not directly.

There were times when he would catch those red eyes, in the corner of his eye, looking at him, but by the time he turned to look they were gone. It made him frustrated; not knowing what to do. Sure, he could keep up the silence between them, but he hated how he feel self-conscious and at a lost of words –– he never lost his wit, not to anyone –– and he was sure that everyone around them had noticed the tension by now. And he hated that they knew that something was off, hated even more that some was off, but hated the most that he and Kurt had come to a point where something was even able _to be_ off. When had he let himself fall into such a position, and with Kurt Hummel of all people?

There was a part of him that just felt like grabbing Kurt by the arm and pull him away and demand to know what the fuck was going on. The were several things that stopped him from doing just that though, obvious things really that his logic so nicely pointed out to him.

First off, he knew exactly what was going on. He had kissed Kurt –– actually _kissed him_ –– square on the mouth. And Kurt had kissed him back, before running away as soon as it dawned to both of them what they had actually shared. And now they were stuck in this tense silence, with no way out it seemed.

Secondly, if he were to grab Kurt and drag him away; the other would notice. Even if he tried to do it discreetly one of them were bound to see it. And Kurt himself was going to protest, there were no doubt in Sebastian’s mind that he wouldn’t. And then he would be left standing there more or less dumbfound as everyone would look at him, all wanting to know what he was up to. It wasn’t a situation he fancied, that was for sure...

Thirdly, if he somehow managed to get himself and Kurt alone –– what was he going to say? He couldn’t demand to know what was going on, because he had already established that he knew exactly what was happening. Demand to know why Kurt was avoiding him? Not when he was doing the exact same thing, which Kurt would undoubtedly point out instead of answering, and then he would just look dumb. So no, not that.

But what then? What did he want from Kurt?

He looked at the man in question, who was flickering through a manga he had just purchased. Kurt was biting him under lip, sucking it into his mouth before letting it slide out again, under his scratching teeth, making the lip just a tiny bit more reddish than it had been before. He did it so slowly and absent-mindedly, most likely completely unaware of that he was actually doing it, but it was drawing Sebastian’s attention, and with that his memory. The feeling of those lips against his own, so soft and warm in the lukewarm night and fuck now Sebastian was thinking about kissing Kurt and that was _not_ good.

It was just then that Kurt decided to finally look up from his book and look Sebastian straight in his eyes. A flush appeared on Kurt's cheeks as his eyes widened, and he looked like he hadn’t planned to find Sebastian within his eyesight and was completely taken by surprise. Sebastian didn’t know how to react to any of it, and just watched as Kurt looked away and engaged in a conversation with Kimberly about the book in his hands.

For some goddamn reason Sebastian felt like shouting, and he looked away from Kurt with a frown on his face.

“Bas,” someone said by his side, and he looked to find Jeff looking back at him with concern written over his face. “Are you okay?” he asked gently, his voice small enough to drown his the cacophony around them so only Sebastian heard him.

“I’m fine,” he insisted. “I just didn’t get much sleep, that's all.”

“Is there a reason to that? Perhaps the same reason to why you came back so riled up last night?” Jeff broke eye contact just then and when Sebastian followed his gaze he saw that it was Kurt Jeff was looking at.

“You’re delusional,” Sebastian said coldly, giving Jeff a hard look before demonstrably turning around, showing that the conversation was over. He heard Jeff sigh behind him as he walked over to Olivia, who smiled at him and then boasted about her latest find.

After a while it was time to go to that closing ceremony to see if Kurt and his girls had won. The ceremony was big it seems, and Ann assured them that they had to get there early if they wanted good seats, or seats at all really, and Sebastian and his friends took a place in the long line that was rapidly forming outside. The cosplayers stood with them for a while before Olivia declared that it was time for them to go backstage with the other contestants.

Sebastian looked at Kurt for just a second, because he was clearly a masochist he thought as he watched bite his lip yet again.

“Good luck, not that you really gonna need it,” Nick said encouragingly and the others smiled at him.

“Thanks,” Ann said and then they were off. Without really wanting to, Sebastian watched the platinum blond head with a yellow bird on it disappear into the sea of people, unable to take his eyes away. Not once did Kurt turn around, but then again why should he? And why did it make Sebastian feel oddly down?

The doors opened after a while, and then there was the usual rush to get inside. Jeff found them three seats about ten rows from the stage on the left side, and they sat down with Jeff in the middle and waited.

“Aren’t you existed?” Jeff asked, his voice loud even though Sebastian was sitting right next to him.

“No,” Sebastian deadpanned, clearly being the exact opposite to Jeff in this moment.

“God, stop being such a buzzkill, you’ve been nothing but grumpy today.”

Sebastian merely raised an eyebrow at his friend, making it perfectly clear that he thought that Jeff was being ridiculous without even saying a word, before turning to the stage.

The ceremony began ten minutes later and it seemed to go on for _hours_. It was only Sebastian’s lifelong practise to restrain himself and to be polite even though he’d rather set fire to himself that made him sit still in his seat and watch, without complaining loudly, leaving, falling asleep or pulling up his phone to bother Claire. If this was a normal situation he wouldn’t have held himself back, and he would have done at least one of those things, but like he had told himself and others so many times before; this wasn’t normal.

He was here for one reason and one reason only, and that was Jeff. One of his two friends, who was as close as his family to him. And he would do anything for those selected few who he called close, because it had taken him some time, but now he knew what real friendship meant, and he was not going to lose it to anything. Not even if that anything was a guy in a Prussian blue uniform and platinum blond wig, who just so happened to come on stage right now together with his friends just then.

He took a deep breath, knowing that he was being silly. Kurt wasn’t going to ruin his friendship, of all the uncertainties, that was at least crystal clear. But he was seriously messing with Sebastian’s mind, unknowingly or not. And the thing that really got to Sebastian was that he didn’t even _know_ how he had let Kurt get to him, or how Kurt got to him exactly. But Sebastian was suddenly dying to know just what the hell Kurt was thinking, and the other man’s opinion of him was more important than it ever ought to. Because Sebastian shouldn’t care about what Kurt thought of him, he really shouldn’t give bloody damn. Yet he did. And he didn’t enjoy it _at all_.

He saw that Ann had spotted them in the audience and she gave them a discreet wave which they all answered, Jeff waving like a freaking maniac (which wasn't really all that surprising). She then pointed at them and the others found their place too. Kurt looked at him then, just for a moment their eyes met, even though they had a lot of space in between them. It felt like someone punched him in the guts and then cut off his airways and all he could do was to look back. He saw Kurt flush and turn away, and suddenly he was free to breathe again.

During the whole ceremony, this was actually the only part Sebastian paid any attention too, since it was the only important part quite frankly. The different cosplay groups were lined up on the stage, and he was surprised to notice that he actually recognized some of them, apart from the group he actually knew. The host for the whole ceremony, a woman who was clad like a normal person, presented the different groups, one by one before she started to tell which ones had made it to the top five. She was kind of a bitch Sebastian thought for himself as she called out Kurt’s group as the fucking last of the five groups. The top five were then asked to step forward while the others left the stage and Sebastian could see how Ann, Olivia, Kurt and Kimberly were clenching each others hands from where he sat. He thought it was odd, since he never remembered seeing Kurt do that when they had been competing at Regionals. But then again, he hadn’t paid Kurt too much attention back then, had he?

The host announced the fifth winner first (not Kurt & co), before going on to the fourth and third (not Kurt & co either), until there were just Kurt and his girls standing on the stage together with another group. The funny thing was that Sebastian couldn’t bring himself to remember the other group at all, and that just proved to him how mediocre they must have been.

Even so, he held his breath as the host announced who the winner was.

“And the winner of the skit competition,” she said and then added a great pause, only confirming that she was in fact a bitch, “is _Porcelain Cosplay!_ ”

Even though they weren’t even near the mic, Sebastian could still hear Olivia’s squeal of delight, Ann’s roar for victory, and Kurt and Kimberly’s surprised shouts of happiness. He applauded them, standing up together with Nick, Jeff and other parts of the audience as Ann went forward and shook the hosts hand and received an envelope, before going back and hugging her friends. They all then shook hands with the group that came in second place, and then they were all exiting the stage, the ceremony continuing with the next award.

The lack of sleep suddenly came crashing down on Sebastian, big time, and he felt almost nauseous. It was terrible, and apparently it was showing.

“Oh my God, what happened to you?” Jeff said when he turned to look at Sebastian. “You look like hell, and you were fine just minutes ago.”

“I don’t know,” Sebastian whined. He _whined_ , he had been reduced to _whining_ for some goddamn reason that he could guess but rather didn’t.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” Jeff said softly, and Sebastian looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I’m actually pleasantly surprised that you’ve come every day. But I guess that it wasn’t all for me, was it?”

“What are you talking about?” Sebastian demanded, but Jeff just shook his head fondly, while Nick was smirking, that bastard.

“You can bugger off to the room and sleep for a while, and maybe we can get a late lunch together or something,” Jeff proposed and Sebastian was _not_ going to pass that down, not when it was Jeff himself who said it.

“You have the second key with you?” Sebastian asked instead. They had been given two key cards to their room, and Sebastian always had one of the two with him, leaving the other one to Nick and Jeff to do what the fuck they wanted with it.

“Yeah,” Nick assured. “Now fuck off Smythe, I don’t want to see your smirky face anymore.”

Sebastian chuckled and tried to pull his most annoying smirk as he stood up and walked passed them. “See you later then,” he said as a good bye and then annoyed the people that sat by the end of the row by walking passed them. It somewhat lightened his mood.

He snuck out of the auditorium rather proficiently by doing up and rounding the audience by going behind the back row instead of going just in front of the stage, even though that way _would_ have been shorter. But he didn’t feel like having people glaring at him and draw attention, not in this place. God knew what these nerds would do to him if he did something wrong.

When he got to the double doors he opened one of them just a little bit and slipped out, and then he was free. The first thing he noticed as he walked towards the exit of the building was how the sky was getting cloudier outside. It was probably going with his mood, he thought. By the time he had reached the lobby it had started to drizzle and he couldn’t help but to think about all the freaks back at the convention and how their clothes and wigs and makeup would probably be ruined by the rain that was obviously starting to fall. Not that he really cared about any of them, especially not Kurt, God no. He was just glad that he had managed to escape the chaos that was bound to come with the rain. Yes, that was it.

He made his way to his room and let himself inside. The lamp in the ceiling lit up as he put the key card in the holder by the door, where one card always had to be if he wanted electricity, and he kicked off his shoes. He thought about laying down on his own bed sofa, but he settled for the double bed in the end, because it _was_ more comfortable. And it would probably bother Nick to find him spread across the sheets when they got back to pick him up for lunch, which was a great bonus.

He tossed around him the bed for a while, trying desperately to fall in some kind of slumber, but if anything his own frustration of not being able to sleep was making him more awake. It was typical, wasn’t it? He had gone back to the hotel specifically so that he could catch up on his sleep, and he _knew_ that he was tired as hell, yet when he laid down he was wide awake. He didn’t dare to look at the time, knowing that it would just piss him off even more. Then, after what seemed like eternity, there was a soft knock on the door. Normally Sebastian wouldn’t have thought much of it, and probably ignored it.

Perhaps it was his general restlessness, the fact that it had barely been a hour since he left the convention (he did look at the clock just then) or his suspicion to just who it was that had knocked on his door. If it had been Nick he would have simply unlocked the door and entered without warning, and if it was Jeff he wouldn’t be knocking but rather more banging at the door while shouting that Sebastian should get off his lazy arse and open up, because Nick had wandered off with the key card. And who else would knock on his door?

The most terrifying thing was Sebastian knew exactly who he _wanted_ it to be on the other side of that door, and even though he wanted to deny it he knew that he couldn’t. But he wasn’t going to hope for anything, because even though he _would_ admit to himself that he wanted see a certain cosplayer on the other side, he wasn’t going to let himself get disappointed. He didn’t want to put himself through that because he hated to be let down, even if it was unintentional. That was really why he just had a selected few that he called friends, because they were the only ones that he was willing to let close.

He should really have looked through the peephole before opening the door was his first thought after he had swung it opened. On the other side of it was everything he really should stay away from if he wished to keep things in order, but couldn’t manage to push away. In other words, it was Kurt.

He didn’t have that bird on his head anymore, and he looked like he had just run through the rain outside, looking flushed and wet. His red eyes wouldn’t just quite meet Sebastian’s and Sebastian got a sour taste in his mouth.

“What do you want?” he asked harshly, beyond caring that deep down he didn’t want to ruin whatever it was he and Kurt had built up between them. He was angry at Kurt, and he had never been one to hide his feelings.

Seeing Kurt hesitate felt like both a victory and a stab in his guts. “I, er, Olivia accidentally spilled some soda on my jacket, and I thought that instead of just washing it off at the toilet I’d go back and change to normal clothes since it was the last day and all, but when I got to the hotel I realized that I forgot to take a key with me,” he said in a rush. “So I was wondering if I could perhaps borrow your bathroom, just to take care of my wig? Just while I wait for one of my girls to come and lock up for me.” He finally looked up at Sebastian. And it was terrible, because no matter how much Sebastian wanted to slam the door shut right in Hummel’s face and tell him to fuck off, he knew that he would be unable to. Didn’t mean that’s going to be happy about it though.

“Sure,” he sighs and let Kurt in before shutting the door behind him and looks back at Kurt. “Couldn’t you just ask someone in the reception for another key?” he then asks and Kurt turns to look at him.

“I tried,” he insists, maybe a bit too forcibly for it to be believable, “but there was no one there.”

“And you were unable to ring the little bell that they always have and just wait until someone came to help you?”

“I told you I tried,” Kurt snapped, which only made Sebastian even angrier. He had absolutely no right to snap at him after ignoring him all day.

“So what, in complete desperation you decided to start talking to me again?”

“What are you talking about?!”

Under other circumstances Sebastian would most likely to stop and think about that this was the first time he’d ever seen Kurt raise his voice as he was losing his composure, but he was far gone himself to even take notice.

“What I’m _talking about_ is how you haven’t even looked at me properly since yesterday!” Sebastian felt like a pathetic schoolgirl just as those words slipped through the mouth, he really could have put that in a better way. But fuck that now, he could make up for it by being intimidating or something.

“Because you kissed me!” Kurt exclaimed and Sebastian wanted to punch his stupid face.

“You’re point being _what_ exactly?! Do you think that I did it because it's a part of my evil master plan to ruin your life? And further more, you kissed me _back_!”

Kurt bit his lip (it really was a nervous habit, wasn’t it?) and Sebastian glared at him, wanting to know just what Kurt had to say to defend himself.

“You’re confusing,” he said and Sebastian just kept on glaring because _really_?! _He_ was the one causing confusion was he now, not the grey-haired, red-eyed, wanna-be-a-Nation in front of him. But Kurt continued before he could say anything, but he suspected that his eyes said just enough. “I know that you aren’t after something, and not only because I can’t figure out just that could even possibly _be_. But Olivia, she, ah, recorded your conversation yesterday, and then played it for us after I called her inside to help me just to make Kimberly and Ann shut it. I didn’t know she would do something like that, I promise!” He looked so vulnerable as he looked back at Sebastian like he was bracing himself for a thunderstorm. Sebastian found that he didn’t like those red contacts _at all_. He wanted to see _Kurt’s_ eyes, his real iris and that supernova of colour.

“Why am I so confusing then?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady without raising it or sounding pathetic.

“Because I don’t know what you want! You’re not after something obviously, you’re not going to humiliate me, but you just showed up in the last place I thought I’d find you and you’re, well, _different_.”

“Oh yeah, so _I’m_ the odd one, even though you dress up as a dissolved kingdom that I didn’t even know existed until two days ago and you dragged around with me without any real reason and kept talking to me about your weird world, so yeah, _I’m_ the odd one.”

“You could have just said no and I would have stopped, idiot!”

“Yes, well I didn’t!”

“And you weren’t silent either, telling me ‘bout you sister and stuff –– and you kissed me!”

“You kissed me back!”

“Why did you even do that?!”

“Because I fucking wanted to!” Sebastian wasn’t thinking very clearly as he yanked Kurt forward and pressed their lips together, just to prove something. Kurt’s response came immediately, as he pushed Sebastian against the (thankfully closed) door to the toilet by his shoulders, before pressing up against him, kiss firmly. Sebastian gasped at the sudden movement and Kurt took the opportunity to invade his mouth, sliding his tongue against Sebastian’s, who sucked on it and earned a low moan for his actions. His hands moved by their own accord around Kurt’s back, feeling the surprisingly firm muscles underneath the wet fabric.

Kurt broke the kiss then and they stood there, breathing in each others air for a moment, before Sebastian moved his kiss Kurt’s neck, pulling the collar of his black shirt away with one of his hands to expose as much skin as possible. He smelled like rain and cologne, Sebastian mused as he sucked on the soft skin, making Kurt gasp and tighten his grip around his shoulders. The whole encounter between them was turning into something that Sebastian should perhaps have seen coming, but he really hadn’t. He hadn’t been thinking straight when he pulled Kurt into that kiss, it had been a next to primal impulse of just _needing_ to kiss him rightfuckingnow, and it was too late to take it back, if he ever wanted to. He didn’t.

He let his lips brush over Kurt’s pale neck, feeling the warmth and softness under his lips.

“Sebastian,” Kurt moaned and Sebastian’s arms tightened around him as he heard his name, his eyes falling shut as he sucked just underneath Kurt jawline. He could hear Kurt’s breath and how it was becoming more irregular by every passing minute. It made him feel smug, knowing that it was all because of him.

Kurt pulled away from his lips before Sebastian could make a mark on his skin, their eyes meeting for a split of a second before Kurt was kissing him again, urgent and with too much tongue and it was fucking fantastic. Sebastian couldn’t hold back a moan and he tilted his head, eyes falling shut and started fighting for dominance, which Kurt wasn’t willing to give him. Eventually they had to catch their breath, and ended up still standing pressed together, their lips as close as they could be without actually touching.

Sebastian opened his eyes then, just wanting to look at Kurt, and he felt personally offended when he saw that Kurt’s eyes were _still_ in those contacts and that wig, even though he couldn’t possibly have found a moment to get out of them.

“You need to take out those contacts,” he said, because he could always take off the wig himself but contacts was next to impossible.

“Why? Are they offending you?” Kurt smirked, and Sebastian found it oddly hot.

“Yes, I am forever wounded, now go do it.” He pushed off the door, making Kurt step back by doing so, and then opened it and pushed Kurt inside the bathroom. “Knock yourself out,” he said dryly and went to lean against the wall next to the door, not wanting to appear like he was waiting for Kurt to come back out. Demonstratively, he pulled out his phone and checked the news feed, so that he wasn't just standing there, waiting for Kurt. What would even happen when Kurt came out? Sebastian found that he really didn't want to answer that, so he checked facebook instead, of all things, just to appear that he wasn't waiting even though he totally was.

A muffled curse came from the bathroom and he went to sit down on the edge of the bed, finding it a lot more comfortable than the wall. He wasn’t even paying attention to whatever he’s screen was showing, it could tell him that Michael Jackson raised from the dead and he couldn’t care less. All his focus were on the sounds that were coming from the bathroom; Kurt moving things and the sound of water from the tap. But he wouldn’t raise his head and try to peek inside, fuck no, that would just make him seem ridiculous.

He was trying too hard not to give in and look up that he didn’t hear how the tap closed, or how Kurt’s boot-clad feet walked across the floor.

“Being social, are we?” Kurt said, his voice far closer than Sebastian thought it were and he jumped, looking up to find Kurt a mere feet away from him.

And holy fuck. Kurt’s blue-green eyes were looking down on him, a fond yet slightly nervous look on his face, and his brown chestnut hair was so messy, falling into his eyes. And it was _Kurt_ , only him and no one else, standing there in that fucking military uniform, and Sebastian could feel himself growing hard.

He didn’t even reply, instead reached out and dragged Kurt down in his lap, loving the sound of the other man’s gasp just before he kissed him again, his phone falling to the floor with a “thunk” but he was not even gonna pretend that he cared. The only important thing was Kurt, and how his hands were pulling in his hair and shirt, his mouth moving against his own, his eyelids falling shut. It was only when he felt the back of his head meeting the mattress that he realized that Kurt had pushed him down onto the bed. He opened his eyes and saw Kurt grinning at him, his eyes almost lit up with mischief, and that wasn't a turn on Sebastian didn't know what would be.

“Seeing something you like?” he asked, his voice more husky than he wanted to.

“Maybe,” Kurt said teasingly. “Can’t tell properly, your clothes are in the way.”

“Well why don’t you do something about it?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Kurt whispered, lowering his head to plant a kiss on Sebastian’s lips, but pulling away just when it was starting to get heated. Sebastian didn’t mean to, but he groaned in protest, making Kurt smirk as he started to pull Sebastian’s shirt up. “Raise your arms,” he commanded.

“Wait, I'll do it,” Sebastian said and pushed himself back up, Kurt straddling him, and pulled off his shirt in one fast move. “Now what are we going to do with you?” he asked, scanning Kurt’s still intact costume.

“You gotta’ start somewhere.” Kurt looked at him like it was a challenge and Sebastian smirked back, silently letting Kurt know that he accept.

Then he reached forward, letting his hands slide over Kurt’s body so he could feel them, but only just. The let them travel over Kurt’s excellent arse down to one of his legs where he started to pull down the zip to Kurt’s knee-high boot.

“And you went for the boots,” Kurt commentated duly.

“Because they’re going to get in the way really quickly once I’ll start tearing those pants off,” he justified himself and then squeezed Kurt’s arse, making the other man's breath hitch.

“You won’t be tearing anything off,” Kurt argued as Sebastian pulled down the other boots zip. Kurt kicked his boots off himself and then pushing Sebastian back down onto the bed, looking down at him for where he sat in Sebastian’s lap, his legs on either side of him. His arms were crossed and he looked determined and damn sexy. “If you ruin my cosplay in any way I will give you hell, got it?”

“Got it.”

“Good.” Then Kurt’s hands were back on him, and it was just _now_ that Sebastian fully noticed that he still had those damn leather gloves on him. God, had he had them the whole time or what? His musings came to and halt as Kurt’s _leather-clad_ hand came up to capture his jaw, smooth leather running across the outline of his face and Kurt kissed him. Hard.

The rough fabric of Kurt’s jacket against Sebastian’s bare chest were really starting to piss him off and he blindly started to unbutton it, never breaking the kiss, never stopping his fight for dominance even though Kurt _was_ on top of him, pinning him down and jerking his hips forward so Sebastian could feel just how turned on he was. Damn, if he had known Kurt could be like this he would have gone after him years ago, Sebastian thought as he finally managed to open the bloody jacket, _without_ ripping it off thankyouverymuch, and he let out a triumphing sound against Kurt’s lips.

“How the fuck do you survive in these clothes,” Sebastian couldn’t help but to think out loud as he started on the buttons on Kurt’s shirt. _So many buttons_.

“I’m the master of layers, that’s how.”

“Is that so. Then I am the master of _fucking_.” Arching up, he took Kurt by surprise and flipped them over, trying to take both of them to the middle of the bed, or at least so that he was sitting on the edge anymore. Kurt looked up at him with wide eyes as Sebastian gave him a smirk of his own.

“If you wanted to move further up in the bed, _you could have just said so_ ,” Kurt argued, glaring. The glare soon disappeared though, as Sebastian began to plant kisses on his stomach for each button he defeated.

“What’s the fun in that?” he mumbled against Kurt’s skin, kissing and licking it just so that he could make Kurt moan. It worked.

He worked his way up, all the way from Kurt’s stomach, to his chest and finally to his collarbones and throat where he couldn’t help but to suck on the pale skin, desperately wanting to leave marks. Kurt arched up when he did, so it wasn’t too unwelcome he reckoned, so he continued. After a while he pulled away though, Kurt making a noise of protest in the back of his throat as he did, but he wanted to admire his handiwork.

It was the first time he really looked at Kurt since he flipped them over and _fuck_. Kurt was laying there, his shirt and jacket open, showing off his pale torso, his skin flushed all the way down to his chest. He was panting already, looking up at Sebastian with hooded eyes and a parted mouth, his hair wild and _fuck_ if he didn’t look like sex then Sebastian wouldn’t know what did.

He must have stared for too long because Kurt started to grin, his eyes shining and Sebastian felt like he had walked right into Kurt’s trap. His heart was pounding and he could only obey when Kurt reached up, pulling Sebastian's ear towards his mouth.

“You know what would be awesome?” Kurt whispered, his breath hot and wet against Sebastian’s ear. “It would be awesome if you fucked me, Sebastian.”

The hand that wasn’t holding Sebastian in place grabbed his arse just then, making him gasp and buck his hips forward, creating delicious friction between their hard cocks that wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy his need and Kurt moaned into his ear and _bloody hell_.

“You’d love to do that, wouldn’t you? Fucking my tight arse, so hard that I can’t walk straight afterwards. I want you to.”

It was like a trap, and he fell straight into it, with Kurt’s mouth and voice and words and eyes and skin and fucking everything. But every muscle of his body wanted Kurt so badly, and God, he be damned if he didn’t fuck Kurt right here and now.

Sebastian gave in to Kurt, he knew he was lost in the other man’s presence and he couldn’t fight it any longer. While kissing his way down Kurt’s face to that delicious throat his hands slid down and started to work with the belt and trousers that were most definitely in the way.

“You’re right,” he whispered roughly onto Kurt’s skin. “I’d _love_ to fuck you.” He cupped Kurt’s erection though the pants, creating friction for him and Sebastian could feel the catch of breath underneath his lips. “Just look at you,” he said, pulling away to hover over Kurt so that he could pull down the trousers. Kurt lifted his hips off the mattress to make it easier and as Sebastian looked at his face once he saw the dilated eyes and red lips. “All flushed and needy and you haven’t even gotten naked yet.”

He pulled the pants and boxers down in one pull, Kurt kicking them off as they pooled at his ankles and Sebastian couldn’t help but to admire Kurt full cock that was lying on his stomach, fully hard.

“Well you’ll just have to please me then,” Kurt retorted and then wrapped his, long, naked legs around Sebastian’s waist and pulling him down again, a wicked smile playing on his face.

“Demanding are we?” Sebastian matched the smile with a smirk of his own.

“Very.”

Sebastian then took Kurt’s cock in one of his hands, stroking it slowly and watching Kurt’s face cloud with pleasure as he groaned.

“You got lube somewhere?” Kurt asked, his voice a little uneven.

“Wait,” Sebastian said before pulling away and reaching for Jeff’s bedside table. There was bound to be lube and a condom there, and sure enough, it was. He pulled off his own pants and boxers, feeling Kurt’s eyes on him as he did which made him feel smug in every sense of the word. And he couldn’t keep the smirk from his face either (but he did know that he looked sexy when he smirked so it wasn’t that much of a disaster) as he settled on top of Kurt once more. Getting straight to the point, he too the little bottle and clicked it open, covered his fingers with the lube before he looked back at Kurt, who was following his every move.

Kurt’s body was so hot and soft under his own, his breathing shallow and Sebastian fleetingly wondered why it was just _now_ that he got just how incredible this man was. But this wasn’t a time for musings when there was a close-to-naked Kurt lying under him.

Sebastian thought about asking if it was okay, but Kurt seemed to snap up his hesitation even before he really noticed it. “I really want you inside of me right now,” he whispered, his legs coming to wrap themselves around Sebastian’s waste once more, clearly offering his arse.

He really didn’t want to show just how much Kurt affected him, even at this stage, but it was a battle he was losing as his stomach dropped at voice and touch; Kurt’s hands on his back and in this hair, his sleek legs and the skin to skin contact. The way Kurt moaned when he started pushing a finger inside of him drove Sebastian spare and he wanted more, oh so much more.

The preparation went by quickly, Sebastian knowing exactly what to do to make it smooth for Kurt, and Kurt being more than willing to take it all. But Sebastian didn’t want to hurt him, no matter how horny he was, and it was Kurt practically shouting “Just _fuck_ me, Sebastian!” that got him to pull his three fingers out and rip the condom package up in one, swift motion. Kurt looked back up at him with his multi-coloured eyes, before following the movement of Sebastian’s hand as he rolled on the condom. Not willing to delay it any longer, Sebastian moved Kurt’s hips into a perfect position, Kurt’s legs coming to wrap around him again and he guided his cock to the entrance. He couldn’t help but to groan as he pushed inside; the heat and tightness was overwhelming and all he wanted was to go all the way and fuck Kurt senseless as Kurt gave out a cry and his hips came up to meet Sebastian, forcing him inside.

“Ah, Gott, just _move_ ,” Kurt panted and Sebastian did as he was told, dragging almost all the way out only to trust in again and making the headboard of the bed slam into the wall and Kurt make a delicious noise that he would do anything to hear again. For every hard thrust he did, Kurt gave out a high pitched cry or a low groan, both oh so hot and Sebastian could feel the pleasure running through between them; Kurt’s blown eyes and his red lips; the way Kurt pulled him down by his hair only to pant against his lips, brushing against each other but never really kissing.

With Kurt’s downright dirty noises against his lips, his long legs wrapped around him tightly and those _damn_ leather gloves running down his spine and through his hair, all he really needed was to hit Kurt’s prostate and see the other man come undone underneath him before he was coming as well, groaning into Kurt’s neck.

Sebastian’s arms gave in and he more or less collapsed on top of Kurt but he couldn’t bother to move, and Kurt unwrapped his legs but kept his arms around Sebastian, silently saying that it was okay that he lay there.

He would take this to the grave, but it felt really nice to just lay there on top of Kurt in his afterglow, feeling how the other man’s rapid breathing slowed down and all the _warmth_ than was between them, although sweaty and sticky it was also _comfortable_. Like, as crazy as it seemed to him, that he would not rather be anywhere else then in a bed with leather-gloved Kurt Hummel, all sweaty and covered in come.

It was not possible to stay like that forever though, and allowing himself one last moment to absorb everything that had happened, Sebastian finally pulled out of Kurt he couldn’t help but to winch and he quickly pulled off the condom and tied it before throwing it at the general direction of the trash can, before damping down next to Kurt.

Kurt watched him the whole time and Sebastian found himself looking back.

“So,” Kurt said relaxed.

“So,” Sebastian echoed.

“What is your plan now?”

Sebastian studied Kurt then, _really_ looked at him. They way he was still a little breathless and flushed, how his eyes sort of glowed after sex and how messy hair really did suit him. Fuck, Kurt was beautiful. His eyes travelled down Kurt's body, his milky chest and stomach before they landed on those gloved hands again. He sighed before reaching over.

“Firstly,” he said, taking one of those gloved hands in his own, “I’m going to take these off.” The leather was surprisingly cooperative and slipped easily off Kurt's fingers, exposing the soft hand underneath. He did the same with the other hand, but instead of letting it go like the first one he kept holding on to it, and soon Kurt linked their fingers together.

When Sebastian gave him a raised eyebrow in question, Kurt merely shrugged, not making a big deal of something that was perhaps even more intimate than sex itself.

“And now then?” Kurt asked and Sebastian smirked down at him.

“Now I’m going to kiss you.” He pulled Kurt forward with his free hand because for some reason he wanted to keep having Kurt’s hand in his own, even though it led to little awkward angle, and then he pressed their lips together, all the urgency and sexual frustration gone leaving him with the simple joy of just kissing. Kurt’s response was immediate as he sucked in a breath before pressing back, his lips brushing over Sebastian’s.

Time didn’t seem too present whenever one was kissing Kurt Hummel, and frankly Sebastian seemed to lose his perception of it. But then Kurt pulled away and bit his lip and Sebastian could just _tell_ that something was bugging him.

“You, er...” he started. “This –– this isn’t just –– what is this?”

“What do you want it to be?” Sebastian shot back and Kurt frowned.

“I asked you first.”

Come to think of it, Sebastian felt that he should actually be rather terrified by this conversation –– giving any other moment and he _would_ have been too. But as it was, lying there in a position that he never in his wildest dreams could have come up with –– let alone known that he _wanted_ –– he felt oddly relaxed and sure of himself. Maybe it was the post-orgasmic glow that were talking, or more likely, it was easiness that the other man brought to him. But either way, whatever it was, it made him choose his words carefully.

“Fine then. For me, this is laying in a bed making out with an incredibly hot guy who I’d love to make out with again after he and I leave this room.”

“And what if the incredibly hot guy wants you to ask him out or something first?”

Sebastian grinned and moved even closer to Kurt, looking him straight in the eyes as he said in a whisper, “Don’t tell anyone, because I’d so lose my reputation and all my friends would laugh at me, but this guy, well, let’s just say that I’d love to take him out on a date or something because he’s so fun to talk to, even if I don’t get into his pants at the end of the day.”

Kurt smiled at him, a real glowing smile that could melt anyone, and most certainly Sebastian. “Oh, your secret is safe with me,” he whispered and then he was kissing Sebastian again, and Sebastian knew that _yes_ , there was only one place he wanted to be right now and that was beside this crazy bastard (who still had his jacket on for some reason –– Sebastian would have to take care of that).

 

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed this fic!  
> And hey, if you want, you can follow me on tumblr~ my url is wednesdaythunder


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